MINERAL   RICHES 


o?  THE,  ; 


EARTH. 


CAREFULLY    COMPILED    FOR    THE    AMERICAN    SUNDAY-SCHOOL 
UNION,    AND    PROFUSELY    ILLUSTRATED. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

AMERICAN    SUNDAY-SCHOOL    UNION, 

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NEW  YORK:    599  BROADWAY. 


EART'ft 

SCIENCES 

LIBRARY 


Entered  according  to  Act  of  Congress,,  in  the  year  1861,  by  the 
AMERICAN  SUNDAY-SCHOOL    UNION, 

in  the  Clerk's  Office  of  the  District  Court  of  the  Eastern  District  of 
Pennsylvania. 


h 


PREFACE. 


To  every  intelligent  observer,  the  ground 
we  tread  on  presents  so  much  variety  of  sub- 
stance that  the  mind  naturally  craves  to  know 
what  it  is  made  of  and  how  it  came  there. 

The  following  pages  are  designed  in  some 
degree  to  meet  that  desire  and  afford  authen- 
tic information  for  popular  reading. 


i* 


CONTENTS. 


CHAPTER  I. 

PAGE 

SALT  AND  SALTS ,  , 9 


CHAPTER  II. 
METALS 31 

CHAPTER  III. 
COAL  AND  COMBUSTIBLES 73 

CHAPTER  IV. 
CLAY  AND  SLATE 103 

CHAPTER  V. 
FLINT  AND  SAND 130 

CHAPTER  VI. 
GRAVEL 146 

7 


8  CONTENTS. 

CHAPTER  VII. 

PAGE 

CHALK — CORAL — MAGNESIA — ASBESTOS — MOULD.  ...   170 

CHAPTER  VIII. 
LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE 195 

CHAPTER  IX. 
VOLCANIC  PRODUCTIONS 218 

CHAPTER  X. 
GEMS 246 

CHAPTER  XL 
FOSSILS   « 276 


EARTH'S  RICHES. 


CHAPTER  I. 

SALT   AND   SALTS. 

MR.  GOODMAN  had  a  large  family  of  sons 
and  daughters,  whose  education  he  delighted 
to  superintend;  and  young  friends  in  abun- 
dance joined  the  social  circle  from  time  to 
time,  sharing  in  their  pursuits  and  partaking 
of  their  amusements. 

As  is  common  among  intelligent  minds, 
their  attention  was  sometimes  attracted  to 
subjects  which,  for  a  season,  engrossed  all  their 
leisure  time;  and  one  summer  was  very  hap- 
pily spent  in  constructing  what  they  called 
"a  friendship-grotto,"  inasmuch  as  the  stones, 
(minerals  and  fossils  with  which  it  was  deco- 
rated were  contributed  by  various  beloved 
friends  and  relations,  who  kindly  interested 


10  SALT   AND   SALTS. 

themselves  in  juvenile  undertakings.  Mr. 
•Goodhjaxi  .was  *as \zealpus  as  any  one;  and,  as 
'his  garden  was  situated  among  the  inequalities 
of  ground  near  a  chain  of  hills,  an  appropriate 
spot  was  soon  selected,  where  a  sudden  rising 
of  the  surface  permitted  the  hollowing  of  a 
cave  near  a  small  spring  of  water.  This  oave 
was  tastefully  lined  with  specimens  of  all 
sorts.  Stalactites  hung  from  the  roof;  spark- 
ling ores  adorned  the  sides,  with  fossil  woods, 
zoophytes  and  shells;  and  different-coloured 
pebbles  studded  the  floor.  A  summer-house 
was  built  over  the  top,  to  which  access  was 
made  by  a  gentle  ascent  behind  the  grotto, 
and  here  some  glazed  shelves  and  partitioned 
drawers  received  those  fragile  materials  which 
could  not  be  exposed  to  the  air,  or  were  so 
valuable  as  to  be  guarded  under  lock  and 
key. 

When  all  was  completed,  the  interior  of  the 
grotto  was  furnished  with  a  rustic  table  and 
seats ;  and  it  became  the  favourite  resort  for 
the  solitary  students  in  the  family,  or  for  the 
afternoon  social  gatherings,  when  in  summer 
weather  they  loved  to  read  and  work  together, 
and  often  refreshed  themselves  with  fruit  or 
tea,  after  their  labours,  in  this  cool  retreat. 


SALT   AND    SALTS.  11 

At  length,  when  the  excitement  of  building 
and  the  novelty  of  possession  had  in  some 
measure  subsided,  and  all  their  friends  had 
duly  praised  the  ingenuity  and  admired  the 
results  of  the  young  people's  handiwork,  Mr. 
Goodman  proposed  that  they  should  take 
occasion  to  derive  some  permanent  advantage 
from  the  time  they  had  so  happily  spent,  and 
the  presents  they  had  received,  not  only  from 
friends  at  home,  but  in  foreign  countries,  of 
minerals  peculiar  to  different  localities  and 
of  widely  different  composition  and  use ;  for, 
till  the  subject  is  studied,  few  persons,  per- 
haps, are  aware  how  much  their  comfort  and 
health  depend  upon  substances  composing  the 
very  ground  they  tread  upon. 

This  proposition  was  hailed  with  general 
satisfaction ;  and  Mr.  Goodman,  who  had  de- 
voted much  of  his  own  youthful  leisure  to 
mineralogy,  and  had  lately  been  watching  for 
an  opportunity  of  imparting  some  of  his  taste 
to  his  children,  at  one  of  the  evening  meetings 
for  tea  entered  upon  the  subject  by  asking 
which  of  the  objects  around  should  be  first 
discussed. 

Edward  Goodman,  the  eldest  son,  referred 
to  salt,  coals  and  metals,  as  certainly  very 


12  SALT   AND   SALTS. 

useful,  and  his  sister  Alice  to  clay,  earth  and 
gravel,  as  necessary  for  the  growth  of  fruit 
and  vegetables. 

Mr.  Goodman  said  that  it  would  help  their 
memories  to  classify  the  subjects,  and  that,  as 
they  had  just  been  eating  salt  with  their  early 
spring  radishes,  he  would  proceed  to  discuss 
that  first. 

He  accordingly  stated  that  COMMON  SALT 
has  some  very  remarkable  qualities.  It  is  a 
great  preservative  against  the  putrefaction 
and  decay  of  dead  animals,  yet  is  so  injurious 
to  living  worms  and  snails  that  it  speedily 
destroys  and  dissolves  them.  In  moderation, 
it  is  needful  with  food;  yet  eaten  in  very 
large  quantities  it  causes  death,  as  an  irritant 
poison,  both  to  men  and  animals.  It  pre- 
serves plants  and  fruits  when  no  longer  grow- 
ing, and  yet  is  so  mischievous  to  living  vege- 
tation that  the  most  expressive  mode  of  de- 
scribing a  fertile  country  abandoned  to  bar- 
renness is  to  say,  as  the  Scriptures  often 
assert,  "  It  is  sown  with  salt."  Thus,  in  the 
book  of  Judges  (ix.  45)  it  is  related  that  when 
Abimelech  took  the  city  of  Shechem,  he  de- 
stroyed it,  "and  sowed  it  with  salt"  to  render 
the  ground  unfruitful. 


COVENANT   OF   SALT.  13 

Salt  must  have  been  very  anciently  known 
to  mankind.  It  was  one  of  the  original  che- 
mical deposits  made  in  the  ocean,  and  the  ear- 
liest inhabitants  of  the  East  had  access  to  it,  in 
the  form  of  rock-salt.  It  is  mentioned  in  the 
earliest  books  of  Scripture;  and,  in  the  law 
given  by  Moses,  it  was  prescribed  to  be  min- 
gled with  the  Jewish  sacrifices.  A  store  of 
salt  was  kept  in  the  Temple,  in  an  apartment 
appropriated  to  that  purpose. 

According  to  Oriental  usages,  to  partake 
jointly  of  salt  was  a  pledge  of  peace  and 
friendship :  so  that  when  once  shared,  even 
unwittingly,  the  bitterest  foes  were  safe 
from  mutual  injury.  This  accounts  for  the 
phrase,  frequent  in  Eastern  tales,  "He  has 
eaten  salt  with  him;"  and  the  same  mean- 
ing belongs  to  the  Scripture  expression  "a 
covenant  of  salt."  The  bond  of  friendship 
and  reconciliation  was  renewed  by  each 
fresh  sacrifice  under  the  Jewish  dispensa- 
tion. "  Neither  shalt  thou  suffer  the  salt  of 
the  covenant  of  thy  God  to  be  lacking  from 
thy  meat-offering."  (Lev.  ii.  13.)  "It  is  a 
covenant  of  salt,"  or  friendship,  "forever." 
(Num.  xviii.  19.)  "  The  Lord  God  gave  the 


14  SALT   AND   SALTS. 

kingdom  over  Israel  to  David  by  a  covenant 
of  salt.1'  2  Chron.  xiii.  5. 

We  now  no  longer  need  the  symbolic  salt 
in  our  approaches  to  God's  mercy-seat,  be- 
cause we  are  told  in  the  New  Testament  that 
Jesus  has  offered  himself  a  sacrifice  for  all 
sins,  and  is  now  the  perfect  Intercessor  and 
Mediator  for  all  who  by  faith  come  unto 
God  through  him. 

Alice  inquired  whether  the  phrase  in  Eng- 
lish history,  "sitting  below  the  salt/'  meant 
the  same  thing  as  the  Oriental  pledge  of 
friendship. 

Mr.  Goodman  answered  that  that  refers  to 
the  olden  time,  when  a  chief,  and  all  his 
household,  dined  at  the  same  table,  but  he 
and  his  family  and  guests  sat  at  the  upper 
end,  above  the  salt-bowl,  which  was  usually 
placed  in  the  middle:  hence  to  be  above  or 
below  the  salt  indicated  the  rank  of  the  per- 
son so  seated. 

It  is  supposed,  from  the  descriptions  of 
Herodotus,  that  the  ancient  Abyssinians  used 
to  enclose  their  dead  in  masses  of  rock-salt, 
which  is  very  common  about  that  part  of 
Africa.  It  is  still  employed  as  money  there, 
and  also  in  Thibet.  The  slave-caravans 


SEA-SALT.  15 

across  the  deserts  of  Northern  Africa  carry 
rock-salt  in  great  cubical  masses  as  mer- 
chandise. 

Salt  is  very  extensively  distributed  both  in 
the  Old  and  New  Worlds ;  in  some  regions  in 
its  fossil  state,  as  rock-salt;  in  others,  in  brine 
lakes  or  springs,  and  thin  incrustations  formed 
by  evaporation  through  the  sun's  heat.  Wher- 
ever the  sea  comes,  people  may,  if  they  choose, 
get  its  salt,  by  boiling  and  evaporating  its 
waters.  This  process,  however,  yields  But  a 
coarse-grained  kind,  needing  much  purifica- 
tion, so  that  it  is  generally  abandoned  as  civil- 
ization advances.  The  Turk's  Island  salt  is 
of  this  kind.  Many  countries  depend  entirely 
upon  foreign  supplies  of  salt,  and  it  is  then 
an  expensive  article :  in  India  fifty  cents  a 
pound  is  no  uncommon  price.  Salt  has  been 
sometimes  so  heavily  taxed  as  to  occasion 
much  distress  among  the  poor. 

Salt  became  excessively  dear  during  the  war 
of  the  American  Revolution.  In  a  few  places 
the  inhabitants  procure  all  their  salt  from  the 
ashes  of  vegetables.  The  annual  production 
of  the  English  mines,  from  which  the  Western 
world  is  largely  supplied,  is  about  five  hun- 
dred thousand  tons,  most  of  which  comes  down 


16  SALT   AND   SALTS. 

the  river  Weaver  to  Liverpool.  The  annual 
consumption  of  salt  by  an  adult  man  or  woman 
has  been  estimated  at  sixteen  pounds. 

Edward  here  interrupted  to  ask  if  all  sea- 
water  contained  the  same  quantity  of  salt. 

Mr.  Goodman  told  him  that  it  varies  con- 
siderably. The  water  of  the  Baltic  Sea  is 
reckoned  to  contain  one-sixty-fourth  of  its 
weight  of  salt ;  that  of  the  sea  between  Eng- 
land and  Flanders,  one-thirty-second ;  and  the 
sea-tvater  on  the  coast  of  Spain,  one-sixteenth 
of  its  weight ;  and  it  varies  again  elsewhere. 

In  the  heart  of  the  American  continent  are 
extensive  deserts  and  lakes  of  salt  water,  the 
largest  of  which  is  Utah  Lake.  Such  exist 
also  in  Chinese  Tartary. 

It  is  a  rule  in  geography  that  whenever  a 
body  of  water  has  no  outlet  to  the  sea  it  must 
be  salt,  because  its  rivers  are  always  bringing 
down  salt  from  the  rocks  around.  The  ocean 
is  salt,  because  it  necessarily  retains  all  the 
salt  that  flows  into  it.  Bodies  of  water  like 
the  Dead  Sea,  which  lie  low  and  under  a  hot 
sun,  are  necessarily  salter  than  others.  Salt 
water  also  being  heavier  than  fresh  water,  the 
bottom  of  the  Mediterranean  Sea  is  salter 
than  the  top.  This  has  been  tested  by  experi- 


SALT-LICKS.  17 

ment.  At  a  depth  of  six  hundred  and  seventy 
fathoms  the  salt  water  was  found  to  be  four 
times  as  heavy  as  at  the  surface. 

Salt  seems  quite  a  necessary  of  life  to 
human  beings;  for  we  pat  it  into  all  our  food, 
while  in  nature.it  occurs  in  milk  and  other 
substances.  Almost  all  graminivorous  ani- 
mals are  fond  of  it,  and  a  mixture  of  it  in 
their  food  seems  beneficial.  The  wild  animals 
of  the  forest  repair  regularly  to  the  salt-licks, 
where  salt  waters  issue  from  the  rocks  and 
form  pools  or  marsh  places,  and  here  the 
hunters  lie  in  wait  for  them.  Some  are  called 
deer  licks,  others  bear  licks,  and  others 
buffalo  licks.  Eegularly-beaten  tracks  or 
paths  descend  to  them,  which  have  been  used 
by  the  animals  from  very  ancient  days,  and 
form  the  best  ways  to  cross  the  mountains. 
In  similar  licks  the  mammoths  and  masto- 
dons of  old  were  frequently  mired  and  lost, 
and  their  skeletons  are  found  at  the  present 
day.  All  animals  need  salt  in  some  measure. 
It  is,  however,  said  to  be  injurious  to  poultry; 
and  if  human  beings  feed  too  much  upon  salt 
food,  they  suffer  from  scurvy  and  similar  dis- 
orders, while  the  drinking  of  sea-water  has 
often  caused  madness  and  death.  The  prophet 

B  2* 


18  SALT  AND   SALTS. 

Elisha  healed  waters  by  casting  salt  into  them ; 
which  seems  strange,  for  salt  water  is  not  fit 
to  drink,  and  does  not  generally  improve  the 
land.  But  perhaps  a  remedy  apparently  so 
unlikely  may  have  been  commanded  by  God 
as  a  clearer  exercise  of  his  miraculous  power. 

There  is  more  in  the  Bible  about  salt  than 
many  might  suppose.  It  is  mentioned  as  a 
familiar  substance  in  the  book  of  Job,  (vi.  6,) 
one  of  the  earliest  known  records.  "Salt- 
pits"  are  named  by  Zephaniah,  (ii.  9,)  as  well 
as  "the  city  of  salt"  by  Joshua,  (xv.  62.) 
The  "  valley  of  salt,"  (2  Sam.  iii.  13,)  "  a 
salt  land,"  (Jer.  xvii.  6,)  "salt  marshes," 
(Ezek.  xlvii.  11,)  and  a  "pillar  of  salt,"  (Gen. 
xix.  26,)  are  all  spoken  of  in  the  books  of 
Moses,  Samuel  and  Jeremiah.  All  the  va- 
rious modes  of  procuring  salt  seem  thus 
early  to  have  been  in  use,  while  its  common 
abundance  is  still  further  shown  by  Ezra's 
statement  (vii.  22)  that  King  Artaxerxes 
directed  his  treasurers  to  supply  for  the  temple 
at  Jerusalem  "salt  without  prescribing  how 
much." 

Salt  was  valuable  enough  to  bear  a  tax  in 
the  time  of  the  Maccabees,  as  it  did  also  in 
the  reign  of  Ancus  Martius,  the  fourth  king 


ENGLISH   SALT-MINES.  19 

of  Borne,  B.C.  640;  and  the  Eomans  took 
tribute  from  the  Droitwich  mines,  in  England, 
from  their  first  settlement,  paying  their  sol- 
diers partly  with  salt.  Hence,  it  is  said,  we 
derive  our  word  salary  (from  sal,  salt)  for  the 
payment  of  work. 

These  Droitwich  springs  are  mentioned  in 
Doomsday  Book,  and  are  yet  inexhaustible, 
rising  from  beds  of  solid  rock-salt  through 
strata  of  gypsum  from  one  hundred  and 
twenty  to  one  hundred  and  fifty  feet  thick. 
The  salt-mines  at  Northwich,  in  England,  are 
two  hundred  and  twenty  feet  deep,  lying  in 
two  beds,  alternating  with  gypsum  and  marl. 
The  salt-rock  is  red,  and  so  hard  as  to  need 
gunpowder.  In  the  eastern  part  of  France 
beds  of  rock-salt  have  been  discovered,  lying 
in  regular  order  over  one  another,  like  beds 
of  coal,  to  a- great  depth  in  the  ground.  The 
borings  through  these  beds,  by  which  the  salt 
water  is  allowed  to  ascend  to  the  surface,  are 
one  thousand  feet  deep.  The  salt-wells  of 
Syracuse,  in  the  State  of  New  York,  sink  to 
masses  of  rock-salt  in  a  very  ancient  forma- 
tion, which  contains  also  gypsum;  and  gypsum 
and  salt  usually  go  together  in  geology.  At 
Saltzburg,  in  Southwestern  Virginia,  there  is 


20  SALT   AND   SALTS. 

a  deep  valley  filled  to  the  depth  of  five  hun- 
dred or  one  thousand  feet  with  red  clay,  gyp- 
sum and  rock-salt ;  and  all  that  part  of  the 
country  is  now  supplied  with  salt  from  thence. 
The  hundreds  of  salt-wells  sunk  during  the 
last  fifty  years  along  the  valleys  of  the  Mo- 
nongahela,  Youghiogheny,  Conemaugh,  Alle- 
ghany,  Beaver,  Muskingum,  and  Mahoning 
Kivers  in  Western  Pennsylvania  and  Ohio,  and 
along  the  Big  and  Little  Kanawha  and  Sandy 
Kivers  in  Virginia  and  Kentucky,  descend 
through  the  rocks  of  the  coal-measures  and 
obtain  their  salt  water  from  the  formations 
immediately  underneath,  where  lakes  or  sheets 
of  it  exist  in  the  bottoms  of  the  basins.  When 
this  salt  water  ascends  to  the  surface,  through 
natural  crevices  or  through  artificial  auger- 
holes,  it  is  often  accompanied  with  coal  oil 
and  coal  gas ;  and  these  valuable  natural  pro- 
ducts of  the  earth  are  sometimes  used  to  boil 
the  salt  water  at  the  mouth  of  the  well.  It 
does  not  follow  that  all  salt  springs  must  be 
at  the  level  of  the  ocean,  although  they  must 
be  in  the  bottoms  of  valleys ;  for  the  salt  lakes 
of  Utah  are  in  valleys  elevated  many  thousand 
feet  above  sea-level.  The  central  parts  of  the 
continent  consist  of  elevated  plains,  covered 


PILLAR    OF   SALT.  21 

with  gravel  and  a  scanty  shrubby  vegetation. 
"Where  much  rain  falls,  salts  are  washed  out 
of  the  soil,  and  vegetation  is  abundant.  Many 
parts  of  the  world  are  barren  for  want  of  rain, 
and  are  very  salt.  The  Isle 'of  Ormus,  in  the 
Persian  Gulf,  consists  almost  entirely  of  rock- 
salt.  There  is  no  sweet  water,  nor  grass;  and, 
though  once  a  place  of  trade  for  the  Portu- 
guese and  Persians,  it  is  now  almost  deserted, 
as  it  produces  nothing  but  fine  white  salt. 
This  sometimes  lies  two  inches  thick  upon  the 
ground. 

Perhaps  the  largest  salt-mines  in  the  world 
are  those  of  Cracow,  in  Poland,  extending 
nearly  a  league  under  ground.  Many  of 
the  workmen  and  horses  live  there  entirely. 
There  are  cottages  and  chapels,  statues  and 
crucifixes,  before  which  lamps  are  kept  con- 
tinually burning.  When  well  lighted  up,  these 
lamps  look  very  glittering  and  beautiful,  as 
the  crystals  reflect  the  light  in  splendid 
coloured  rays. 

Sacred  history  informs  us  that,  as  the  family 
of  Lot  were  fleeing  from  the  doomed  cities  of 
the  plain,  his  wife  "  looked  back"  and  "became 
a  pillar  of  salt."  That  an  object  has  been  seen 
which  was  said  to  be  the  .pillar  into  which  Lot's 


22  SALT   AND   SALTS. 

wife  was  turned,  and  which  the  beholders  be- 
lieved to  be  such,  there  is  little  doubt.  In  one 
of  the  Apocryphal  books  allusion  is  made  to 
the  destruction  of  the  five  cities: — "Whose 
land,  for  a  testimony  of  their  wickedness,  is 
desolate  and  smoketh  to  this  day,  and  the 
trees  bear  fruits  that  ripen  not ;  and  a  stand- 
ing pillar  of  salt  is  a  monument  of  an  incredu- 
lous soul."  This  passage  might  be  sufficient 
for  the  faith  of  Eoman  Catholics,  but  would 
have  no  weight  with  Protestants. 

That  a  column  of  solid  salt  should  be  found 
in  a  region  where  there  are  "  precipices  of  pure 
crystallized  fossil  salt  forty  or  fifty  feet  high 
and  several  hundred  feet  in  length,"*  is  by  no 
means  incredible ;  but  there  is  no  satisfactory 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  any  visible  memorial 
of  the  judgment  which  came  upon  Lot's  wife. 

Indeed,  it  is  remarkable  that  the  scenes  and 
events  which  the  sacred  history  records  should 
be  so  rarely  marked  by  permanent  visible  monu- 
ments. To  those  who  receive  the  Sacred  Scrip- 
tures as  of  divine  authority,  their  testimony  is 
conclusive.  "If  they  hear  not  Moses  and  the 
prophets,  neither  will  they  be  persuaded  though 
one  rose  from  the  dead." 

*Dr.  Robinson,  edit.  1841,  vol.  ii.  p.  482. 


MAKING   OF   SALT.  23 

Rock-salt  is  generally  either  of  a  pale  red, 
green,  blue,  gray,  or  yellow  color,  and  requires 
purifying  to  assume  the  delicate  hue  suited 
for  domestic  use.  Only  small  cubes  here  and 
there  are  white.  It  is  purified  by  dissolving 
the  rock-salt  in  water,  or  by  boiling  the  brine 
from  the  salt  springs  over  and  over  -again, 
and  evaporating,  or  suffering  the  water  to  fly 
off  in  vapour.  The  salt  liquor  is  generally 
boiled  in  large  shallow  vessels,  and  the  salt 
continually  stirred,  to  prevent  it  from  crystal- 
lizing as  it  granulates.  It  is  afterwards  dried, 
and  sold  in  cakes  of  convenient  size. 

Salt  could  be  made  in  the  chemist's  labora- 
tory if  it  were  worth  while  to  do  so ;  but  it  is 
too  abundant  in  nature  to  need  artificial  pro- 
duction. Chemically,  it  is  a  chloride  of  sodium. 
It  used  to  be  termed  muriate  of  soda,  but  ac- 
cording to  more  accurate  modern  nomenclature 
its  proper  name  is,  as  stated,  chloride  of  sodium. 
There  is  generally  a  sediment,  or  residue  of 
insoluble  matter,  from  most  brine.  Salt  pre- 
pared from  sea- water  leaves  a  mixture  of  car- 
bonate of  lime  and  carbonate  of  magnesia, 
with  fine  flinty  sand.  Rock-salt  generally 
leaves  sulphate  of  lime,  (gypsum,)  or  some  sort 
of  marly  earth. 


24  SALT   AND   SALTS. 

Salt  water  does  not  generally  freeze  so  soon 
as  fresh  water :  it  requires  a  greater  degree 
of  cold  to  produce  ice.  Yet  the  arctic  regions 
afford  abundant  proof  that  it  freezes  very 
completely  under  severe  cold;  and  salt  is 
added  to  snow  and  ice  by  confectioners  to 
quicken  the  process  of  freezing  their  creams. 
In  the  salt  steppes  of  Orenburg  there  is  a 
remarkable  cave,  called  the  Freezing  Cave, 
from  the  fact  that  during  the  summer  months 
the  surrounding  region  of  salt  renders  its 
atmosphere  so  cold  that  snow  and  icicles  line 
it  at  that  season, — though  in  the  winter  the 
same  cave  is  so  much  warmer  than  the  ex- 
ternal air  that  the  Eussians  state  they  could 
sleep  iu  it  without  their  sheepskin  cloaks. 

There  is  a  coarse-grained  salt  that  fisher- 
men use  for  salting  fish,  known  also  to  most 
housekeepers  by  the  name  of  bay  salt,  which 
is  merely  salt  less  carefully  stirred  in  boiling 
and  purifying  than  the  finer  sort.  Both  that 
and  the  finer  kinds  equally  preserve  fish  or 
meat;  but  for  packing  and  exporting  such 
provisions  the  larger  grains  are  best,  as  they 
do  not  soon  dissolve,  and  therefore  melt  only 
as  the  juices  of  the  meat  absorb  them.  Bay 
salt  is  thus  exceedingly  useful  for  long  voy- 


SALT   AN   ANTISEPTIC.  25 

ages,  and,  moreover,  is  used  for  preserving 
foreign  skins  during  their  travels  to  the 
tanner.  Great  quantities  of  salted  hides  are 
brought  from  South  America.  Damask  roses, 
too,  are.  imported  for  the  chemist  and  perfumer, 
mixed  with  salt,  which  does  not  affect  their 
sweet  scent  in  the  least :  indeed,  much  of  their 
colour  is  retained,  as  may  be  noticed  when 
making  rose  tea  from  the  chemist's  stores. 

From  the  earliest  periods,  salt  was  used  for 
preserving  the  bodies  of  animals;  and  even  the 
corpses  of  men,  were  placed  in  salt  or  brine 
when  removed  to  any  distance  for  funeral 
rites.  Pharnaces,  the  unnatural  son  of  Mithri- 
dates,  King  of  Pontus,  not  only  joined  the 
Konians  against  his  father,  but,  after  procur- 
ing his  death,  sent  the  body  packed  in  salt  to 
Pompey  at  Rome.  In  the  fifth  century,  the 
monks  were  accustomed  to  preserve  the  heads 
of  martyrs  in  salt ;  and  animals  for  zoological 
collections  were  successfully  kept  in  brine  for 
a  long  period.  Of  course,  butterflies  and  birds 
would  lose  the  beauty  of  their  down  and 
feathers  in  brine :  they  would  recover  their 
proper  looks  after  being  wet. 

Soda  and  muriatic  acid  are  both  extracted 
from  this  useful  mineral.  Salt  thrown  into 


26  SALT   AND    SALTS. 

the  oven  where  common  pottery  is  baked 
produces  a  glaze  upon  it.  It  improves  the 
whiteness  and  clearness  of  glass,  gives  hard- 
ness to  soap,  and  is  used  both  in  melting 
metals  and  dyeing  calicoes  and  stuffs.  It 
quenches  flame,  and  is  therefore  useful  to  stop 
a  chimney  on  fire;  while  wood  thoroughly 
steeped  in  salt  water  is  very  slow  to  burn. 
Nor  is  this  all.  Salt-water  baths  are  often 
recommended  to  strengthen  weak  limbs ;  for 
salt  purifies  the  skin,  and,  by  producing  a 
gentle  irritation,  increases  its  healthy  action. 
Some  of  the  salt  may  also  penetrate  the  pores, 
so  as  to  mix  with  the  blood  and  supply  any 
deficiency  there. 

The  young  people  looked  so  surprised  at 
this  statement  that  Mr.  Goodman  explained 
that  salt  should  be  in  the  blood  of  most 
healthy  animals,  mankind  included.  Dr. 
Livingstone  perceived  the  salt  taste  .even  of 
fresh  animal  food,  after  he  had  long  been  de- 
prived of  it ;  and  the  absence  of  salt,  which  it 
was  sometimes  difficult  to  procure  in  the  in- 
terior of  Africa,  created  an  intense  longing 
for  meat  or  milk,  the  salt  in  either  of  which 
seemed  to  supply  the  want  in  a  great  measure. 
Most  people  can  remember  noticing  a  very 


BORAX.  27 

salt  taste  when  the  mouth  bleeds  at  all  copi- 
ously, and  are  surprised  when  the  doctor  says 
that  it  is  all  right. 

Salt,  though  rather  painful  when  applied  to 
a  wound,  does  not  really  do  mischief,  but  fre- 
quently promotes  its  healthy  healing.  The 
writers  of  the  New  Testament  often  use  salt 
as  an  emblem  of  wisdom: — "Let  your  speech 
be  always  with  grace,  seasoned  with  salt;" 
and  of  purification,  "  Ye  are  the  salt  of  the 
earth,"  while  consistently  spreading  a  useful 
influence;  "but  if  the  salt  have  lost  its  sa- 
vour," if  professed  Christians  yield  to  the  cor- 
ruptions of  the  world,  they  lead  others  astray, 
and  thus  diffuse  evil  instead  of  good;  and 
our  Lord  adds  the  fearful  doom,  "  it  is  thence- 
forth good  for  nothing  but  to  be  cast  out." 

Many  other  substances  are  called  salts,  such 
as  alum,  borax,  soda,  nitre  and  saltpetre, — 
which,  however,  are  seldom  found  in  a  native 
pure  state,  but  are  obtained  from  various  clays 
and  earths  in  which  they  largely  mingle. 
Borax  is  found  in  the  East  and  in  South 
America,  and  is  much  used  as  a  flux  for  melt- 
ing and  purifying  various  substances,  and  in 
soldering  metals.  Saltpetre  is  obtained  from 


28  SALT  AND   SALTS. 

Bengal,  and  is  used  in  making  gunpowder, 
signal-lights,  dyeing,  purifying  metals  and 
curing  meat.  Nitric  and  sulphuric  acids  are 
both  procured  from  it,  which,  together  with 
nitre  itself,  are  largely  used  in  medicine, 
though  they  are  both  poisonous,  and,  applied 
outwardly,  rapidly  corrode  and  consume  the 
flesh. 

Chloride  of  lime  is  a  salt  of  rather  recent 
discovery,  and,  in  solution,  is  particularly 
valuable  for  its  disinfecting  properties,  ren- 
dering a  foul  atmosphere  speedily  pure.  Hence 
it  is  much  used  in  hospitals,  and  in  cleansing 
drains  and  places  which  generate  unwhole- 
some and  disagreeable  effluvia.  It  was  dis- 
covered by  Sir  Humphry  Davy  during  his 
researches  upon  gases.  Chlorite,  the  mineral 
from  which  the  salt  is  extracted,  is  composed 
of  multitudes  of  little  shining  spangles  which 
fall  to  powder  under  the  pressure  of  the  fingers. 
It  is  of  a  greenish  colour,  and  occurs  in  Ger- 
many, Switzerland,  Sweden,  Norway  and 
Java,  mingled  with  other  substances,  such  as 
clay-slate  and  sulphates  of  iron  and  arsenic. 
Chloride  of  lime  is  much  used  as  a  bleaching- 
powder.  The  paper-makers  boil  their  rags  in 


CHLORIDE.  29 

it  to  render  them  perfectly  colourless  :  "  there- 
fore/' said  Mr.  Goodman,  "your  pretty  new 
print  dress  was  spoiled  by  some  being  spilled 
on  it,  as  well  as  the  damask  curtains." 

He  further  remarked  that  all  through  the 
works  of  God  in  nature  "one  thing  seems  set 
over  another :"  there  are  antidotes  to  poisons, 
correctives  of  disagreeables,  and  promoters  of 
all  that  is  pure  and  pleasant, — reminding  us  of 
the  power  of  God's  grace  to  change  the  vilest 
hearts  and  the  most  unholy  tempers  by  the 
purifying  influences  of  the  Holy  Spirit, — as  the 
Apostle  Paul  teaches  us  in  his  Epistle  to  the 
Corinthians.  After  describing  some  of  the 
worst  of  sinners,  he  exclaims,  "  Such  were 
some  of  you;  but  ye  are  washed,  but  ye  are 
sanctified,  but  ye  are  justified,  in  the  name  of 
the  Lord  Jesus,  and  by  the  Spirit  of  our  God/' 
1  Cor.  vi.  11. 

The  young  people  seemed  so  much  interested 
in  these  observations  upon  salt,  that  Mr. 
Goodman  determined,  while  sharing  in  their 
occupations,  to  avail  himself  of  any  circum- 
stance which  would  introduce  the  study  of 
kindred  topics,  knowing  that  formal  lectures 
at  set  times  are  often  forgotten,  while  the 
3* 


30  SALT   AND    SALTS. 

mind  eagerly  seizes  and  easily  retains  inform- 
ation upon  the  materials  which  employ  the 
labour  of  the  hands.  His  own  mental  stores 
and  still  lively  taste  rendered  him  a  fountain 
of  wisdom,  which  could  be  readily  drawn  upon 
at  pleasure. 


TINKERING.  31 


CHAPTER  II. 

METALS. 

EDWARD  considered  himself  "fond  of  ex- 
perimental philosophy."  Alice  used  to  laugh 
at  him  for  possessing  what  she  called  "a 
genius  for  tinkering ;"  and  now  and  then  she 
laughed  with  good  reason,  for,  in  his  great 
zeal  for  experiments,  he  did  not  always  prove 
himself  a  prudent  philosopher.  He  had 
visited  some  metal- works;  and,  interested 
with  the  various  processes  he  had  witnessed 
of  casting,  welding  and  hammering,  he  be- 
thought himself  of  some  lead  he  possessed,  and 
fancied  he  could  cast  it  into  shape  and  im- 
press upon  it  sundry  devices,  which  would 
look  much  prettier  than  a  plain  mass  of  dull 
metal. 

To  work  he  went,  and  was  busily  occupied 
all  one  holiday  morning,  moulding,  casting 
and  stamping  to  his  heart's  content.  But, 
alas !  when  he  came  to  exhibit  the  result  of 


32 


METALS. 


his  skill,  his  father  looked  grave,  for  the 
young  metallurgist  had  used  a  silver  half- 
dollar  and  some  foreign  silver  coins  for  his 
dies,  and  they  were  much  injured  by  the  pro- 
cess. Edward  could  not  tell  why  the  real 
coins  looked  black,  and  asked  the  reason. 

" Because/'  replied  Mr.  Goodman,  "the  sur- 
faces of  your  silver  coins  have  amalgamated, 
that  is,  united  with  the  lead.  You  should  not 
venture  on  such  an  experiment  as  this  with- 
out knowing  a  little  about  the  chemistry  of 
such  combinations.  That  black  tint  is  actually 
the  lead,  which  has  mixed  with  the  silver  and 
alloyed  all  the  surface.  No  common  rubbing 
with  plate-powder  or  leather  will  restore 
them.  You  cannot  get  rid  of  the  lead  till  you 
grind  down  to  a  new  surface,  and  the  coins 
will  then  have  lost  some  of  their  silver  and 
be  so  much  less  valuable.  Lead  and  silver  are 
almost  always  found  together  in  mines;  and  it 
is  always  a  troublesome  business  to  separate 
them." 

"Well,"  sighed  Edward,  "I  must  keep  my 
half-dollar,  then,  as  a  monument  of  my  foolish 
ignorance." 

"If  you  preserve  it  as  a  reminder  to  con- 
sider before  you  act,  it  will  purchase  you 


COMPOUND   METALS.  33 

many  a  half-dollar's  worth  of  wisdom,  both  in 
intellectual  pursuits  and  moral  actions :  so  you 
need  not  sigh  too  heavily  over  the  loss  of  your 
money." 

"  But,  father,  will  you  tell  me  a  little  about 
metals  ?  I  never  thought  of  silver  and  lead 
mixing  together,  as  I  found  this  morning  they 
will  do." 

"  You  forget,  then,  the  preparation  of  the 
metallic  compounds  you  saw  at  Chicopee, 
when  they  were  mixing  bell-metal,  queen's 
metal,  pewter,  pinchbeck,  brass  and  bronze?" 

Alice  and  the  rest  of  the  family  here  joined 
them,  and,  as  they  had  watched  Edward's  ex- 
periments, they  were  curious  to  know  the 
reason  of  the  failure  he  lamented ;  and  their 
father  led  them  to  the  grotto,  that  he  might 
be  able  to  illustrate  his  remarks  on  metals 
by  reference  to  the  numerous  ores  they  had 
there  interspersed  about  the  walls. 

Mr.  Goodman,  looking  more  particularly  at 
Edward,  remarked  that  all  METALS  cannot  be 
mixed  together ;  but  new  compounds  of  metal 
are  frequently  invented,  consisting  sometimes 
of  two  only,  and  sometimes  of  several,  in 
various  proportions,  according  to  the  quality 
desired.  Thus,  copper  and  tin  form  not  only 
c 


34  METALS. 

bronze,  but  bell-metal ;  tin  and  lead  make  pew- 
ter ;  and  small  quantities  of  bismuth,  zinc;  or 
other  metals  added  to  these  will  produce  con- 
siderable change  either  in  appearance  or  quality. 
Fusibility,  or  the  capacity  to  melt,  is  a  very 
important  and*  useful  quality  common  to  all 
metals  in  different  degrees,  as  well  as  malle- 
ability and  ductility,  or  their  capacity  for 
being  beaten  or  drawn  out,  rolled  into  plates, 
bars  and  wire.  All  metals,  too,  have  some 
degree  of  shining  hue,  termed  the  metallic 
lustre.  They  are  not  generally  transparent, 
though,  as  leaf  gold  when  held  up  to  the  sun 
transmits  a  green  light  through  it,  and  silver 
a  white  light,  it  is  probable  that  other  metals 
might,  if  equally  thin,  also  be  thus  partially 
transparent ;  but  few  of  the  other  metals  will 
bear  being  so  much  beaten  out. 

No  metals  have  ever  yet  been  decomposed, 
or  divided  into  simpler  substances,  but  are 
already  what  chemists  call  elements  in  their 
simplest  state.  There  are  several  theories  of 
their  formation,  each  of  which  presents  part 
of  the  truth.  One  theory  supposes  that  metals 
have  been  deposited  from  above,  by  earthy 
or  metallic  salts  held  in  solution  by  water, 
just  as  the  mineral  waters  of  the  present  day 


ORIGIN   OF   METALS.  35 

contain  iron,  copper,  lead,  &c.  This  is  un- 
doubtedly true  of  many  mineral  veins,  as  may 
be  shown  by  their  being  composed  of  regu- 
larly-deposited linings  of  ore  and  spar  on  their 
walls.  Other  persons  have  fancied  that  the 
metals  were  the  result  of  sublimed  vapours  or 
exhalations,  as  the  mercury  seems  to  be  in  the 
mines  of  Austria ;  and  some  again  prefer  to 
consider  spars  and  metallic  ores  as  injected, 
while  melted  by  heat,  into  these  veins.  Elec- 
tricity or  magnetism  seems  to  have  contri- 
buted to  the  formation  of  metals, — either  the 
general  magnetism  and  electricity  of  the 
earth,  or  local  currents  of  such  forces,  pro- 
duced by  surrounding  influences.  All  metals 
crystallize  into  definite  forms,  and  some  into 
more  than  one  form. 

This  question,  as  to  how  the  metallic  ores  were 
formed,  or,  more  properly,  how  they  were  de- 
posited, is  one  which  naturally  rises  in  every 
thinking  mind,  and  is  frequently  asked  by 
those  who  examine  collections  of  ores;  for 
metals  are  scarcely  ever  found  in  a  native  or 
pure  state,  but  are  mixed  with  a  great  va- 
riety of  mineral  substances.  Inquiring  minds 
are  trying  to  ascertain  the  cause  of  the  metal- 
lic deposits,  and  the  mode  of  their  accumula- 


36  METALS. 

tion ;  but,  though  many  interesting  and  inge- 
nious theories  have  been  devised  and  many 
curious  facts  discovered  in  the  course  of  in- 
quiry, no  entirely  satisfactory  answer  has  yet 
been  found.  It  is  most  probable  that  the 
metals  were  made  with  all  the  other  chemical 
elements  of  matter  when  the  world  was  cre- 
ated; for  tin,  iron,  copper,  chrome,  cobalt, 
manganese,  titanium,  arsenic  and  one  or  two 
other  metals  have  been  detected  in  the  oldest 
rock  formations  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted. Yet  there  are  many  metallic  veins 
or  streams  of  ore,  which  have  evidently  been 
deposited  during  convulsions  of  nature  of  a 
much  more  recent  date  than  the  geological 
age  of  the  rocks  in  which  they  are  found. 
Such  are  the  copper  veins  of  Lake  Superior, 
and  the  tin  and  copper  veins  of  Cornwall. 
They  vary  greatly  in  width, — the  Cornish  veins 
from  one  inch  to  thirty  feet.  In  other  countries 
much  wider  veins  occur ;  but  even  the  narrow 
veins  are  often  rich  enough  to  be  quite  worth 
working,  especially  as  they  are  so  very  deep 
that  they  have  never  yet  been  fathomed,  or 
exhausted  of  their  contents,  even  three  thou- 
sand feet  below  the  surface.  The  lately-dis- 
covered Washoe  silver  vein,  on  the  west  coast 


METALS   OF   SCRIPTURE.  37 

of  North  America,  worth  from  three  thousand 
dollars  to  nine  thousand  dollars  a  ton,  is  only 
eight  inches  wide.  The  great  iron-ore  bed  of 
Marquette,  in  Michig'an,  is  one  thousand  feet 
wide.  In  following  the  course  of  veins,  they  are 
generally  observed  to  slant  downwards  from  the 
commencement.  Sometimes  they  widen  as  they 
are  explored,  and  a  large  deposit  is  reached, 
whence  several  veins  seem  to  have  started. 
Other  veins  become  narrower,  descending,  and 
stop  altogether;  or  spar,  or  some  other  mate- 
rial, is  substituted  for  the  metallic  deposit. 

In  the  earliest  records  of  man,  frequent 
mention  has  been  made  of  metals.  Even  in 
the  description  of  the  garden  of  Eden,  gold — 
good  gold — is  particularized ;  while  Job  says, 
"  Surely  there  is  a  vein  for  silver,  and  a  place 
for  gold  in  the  earth.  Iron  and  brass  are  dug 
out  of  stones,"  (Job  xxviii.  1,)  suggesting  the 
idea  that  mining-operations  were  known  from 
the  first.  Indeed,  Tubal-cain,  the  instructor 
of  workers  in  brass  and  iron,  lived  before  the 
flood.  Gen.  iv.  22. 

These  metallic  veins  are  generally  enclosed 
between  hard,  dark-coloured  crusts,  which 
miners  term  the  walls  of  the  vein.  There  is 
mostly,  too,  a  small  vein  of  a  whitish  clayey 

4 


38  METALS. 

substance  running  down  one  or  other  of  the 
walls.  Besides  this,  most  metallic  veins  con- 
tain a  good  deal  of  spar  and  quartz,  either 
loose  or  crystallized  against  the  sides.  Occa- 
sionally large  empty  spaces  occur,  lined  with 
beautiful  crystals.  Experience,  of  course,  in 
some  degree  enables  miners  to  learn  from 
appearances  whether  the  veins  are  likely  to 
continue  to  bear  metal  or  not ;  but  these  ap- 
pearances are  often  so  fallacious  that  mining 
is  at  all  times  an  uncertain  experiment.  It  is 
also  hazardous  and  costly,  from  the  great 
depth  under  ground  at  which  the  work  must 
often  be  carried  on. 

In  Cornwall,  copper  and  tin  are  seldom 
found  nearer  to  the  surface  than  eighty 
feet.  If  tin  is  discovered  then,  perhaps,  in 
descending  eighty  or  one  hundred  feet  lower, 
copper  alone  exhibits  itself;  but  tin  is  sel- 
dom found  below  copper.  In  Tennessee,  the 
black  copper-ore  is  at  the  base  of  the  hills, 
and  under  it  the  veins  are  a  poorer  mixture 
of  sulphur,  copper  and  iron.  Another  diffi- 
culty arises  from  a  second  system  of  veins  of  a 
totally  different  metal  often  crossing  the  first 
and  altering  the  direction  of  the  east  and  west 
veins,  "  heaving  them  out  of  their  course/' 


CHANGE    OF   VEINS. 


39 


as  the  miners  say,  sometimes  one  hundred  or 
even  five  hundred  feet  north  or  south  of  their 
true  place;  so  that  they  can  be  found  again 
only  after  long,  laborious  and  expensive  search : 
in  one  case  forty  years  have  been  thus  occu- 
pied. In  many  districts  these  heaving  s  happen 
several  times  to  the  same  veins,  to  the  exceed- 
ing perplexity  of  the  workmen,  especially  when 
numerous  veins  thus  cross  each  other. 

At  the  point  of  crossing  there  is  generally 
a  considerable  change  of  composition  in  the 
contents  of  veins,  so  as  to  excite  some  expecta- 


SECTION  OF  TIN-CROFT  MINE. 


tion  of  a  crossing  vein.  Indeed,  the  same  mine- 
ral vein  varies  so  much  in  passing  through 
different  sorts  of  strata,  or  layers  of  rock,  that 
the  miner  looks  for  a  change  of  metal  with 
every  marked  change  of  ground  or  "  country." 


40  METALS. 

In  Cornwall,  the  copper-ore  of  a  vein  passing 
through  clay  slate  becomes  richer  on  entering 
granite,  or,  what  is  more  remarkable,  produces 
copper-ore  differently  mineralized.  In  the 
Lake-Superior  region,  the  veins — which  all 
cross  the  rocks  nearly  at  right  angles — show 
an  abundance  of  copper  only  while  they  are 
passing  through  sandstone,  but  become  bar- 
ren when  they  enter  the  trap.  All  metals 
are  not  found  in  these  curious  veins ;  for  some 
are  in  large  horizontal  layers  or  beds ;  but 
these  are  generally  the  ores  of  iron,  lead,  zinc 
and  manganese  combined  with  other  sub- 
stances. Some  few  metals  are  found  in  the 
sources  or  beds  of  old  rivers  :  gold  especially 
is  thus  discovered.  Metals  do  not  often  show 
themselves  on  the  surface  of  the  ground, 
though  occasionally  the  earth  is  sufficiently 
stained  or  coloured  with  the  rust  produced 
by  the  damp  of  the  atmosphere  to  suggest 
that  iron  or  copper  may  lie  beneath.  The 
show  which  iron  makes  for  itself  and  its  allied 
metals  is  called  its  "  gossan." 

The  beds  of  metal  worked  as  mines  are 
generally  rather  low ;  but  all  the  best  known 
silver-mines  are  situated  in  high  table-land, 
which  would  not  be  inhabited  but  for  the 


GOLD   AND   SILVER.  41 

mineral  treasures  to  be  obtained.  Thus,  at 
Pasco,  in  Peru,  there  are  silver-mines  with 
some  thousand  mouths  opening  into  the  very 
houses  of  the  owners.  A  complete  network 
of  silver  veins  appears  to  spread  there  beneath 
the  surface  of  the  earth,  one  of  which  is  nine 
thousand  six  hundred  feet  long  and  four  hun- 
dred and  twelve  feet  broad.  Gold  is  frequently 
found  near  the  surface  of  the  ground.  The 
Gold  Coast  of  Africa  is  so  named  from  its 
abundance  in  the  sands.  The  gold-fields  of 
Peru,  California  and  Australia  occasionally 
yield  large  nuggets,  or  lumps,  of  the  precious 
metal,  weighing  several  ounces  and  even  many 
pounds ;  but  they  are  remarkable  and  rare. 
Gold  occurs  in  every  quarter  of  the  globe,  and 
nearly  in  every  country,  though  not  always  so 
plenteously  as  to  be  worth  the  expense  of  dig- 
ging for  it. 

"What!  Is  there  gold  in  Vermont  and 
Massachusetts  ?"  exclaimed  Edward  and  Alice 
both  together,  in  amazement. 

"  Yes ;  and  in  Virginia  and  North  and  South 
Carolina  and  Georgia  also,"  said  Mr.  Good- 
man. The  United  States  Government  has  an 
assay-office  in  North  Carolina  for  the  native 
gold.  The  Dahlonega  and  other  mines  there 


42  METALS. 

are  very  rich,  and  the  new  hydraulic  process 
of  washing  out  the  gold  and  gravel  by  tearing 
the  hills  to  pieces  with  tremendous  jets  of 
water  brought  in  canals  and  pipes  for  many 
miles,  which  has  revolutionized  gold-mining 
in  California,  is 'now  being  introduced  into  the 
Carolina  gold-fields  with  great  profit.  Almost 
every  river  which  flows  into  the  Atlantic 
brings  down  small  quantities  of  gold.  But 
the  Ptocky  Mountains  seem  to  be  the  home  of 
gold,  from  which,  in  the  future,  the  world  is  to 
be  supplied.  It  is  a  proof  of  God's  superin- 
tending care  that  the  most  useful  metals — gold, 
silver,  iron  and  copper — are  freely  distributed 
all  over  the  world,  and  generally  in  situations 
that  can  be  got  at  without  much  difficulty: 
hence,  throughout  history  they  are  continually 
named  as  substances  of  common  use.  Lead 
and  tin  are  abundant  in  certain  localities, 
where  they  were  discovered  in  very  early 
times  and  imported  to  other  countries.  Both 
were  known  to  the  ancient  Egyptians.  The 
Cornish  tin-mines,  in  all  probability,  supplied 
the  luxurious  city  of  Tyre,  (Ezek.  xxvii.  12 ;) 
but  the  tin  found  among  the  six  varieties  of 
metal  in  the  spoils  of  the  Midianites  by  Moses 
may  have  come  from  the  East  Indies.  (Num. 


NUMBER   OF   METALS.  43 

xxxi.  22.)  The  lead-mines  of  Derbyshire 
(England)  were  worked  long  before  the  Eoman 
invasion ;  but  lead  was  used  as  a  writing  ma- 
terial in  the  time  of  Job,  (xix.  24,)  and  its 
great  weight  was  remarked  by  Moses,  when 
he  sang  at  the  Exodus,  "  They  sank  as  lead  in 
the  mighty  waters."  Exod.  xv.  10. 

Quicksilver  or  mercury,  antimony,  zinc  and 
•platinum,  are  seldom  found  in  their  metallic 
state,  but  are  extracted  from  their  ores  by 
various  laborious  processes ;  while  the  metals 
forming  the  bases  of  several  metalloids — alu- 
minum, silicum,  sodium,  &c. — are  never  pro- 
cured except  by  artificial  means,  and  then 
some  of  these  are  so  quickly  changed  by  the 
influence  of  the  atmosphere  that  they  are 
only  slowly  coming  into  use  in  the  arts,  and 
chiefly  in  the  form  of  alloys. 

You  are  familiar  with  gold  and  silver 
money,  silver  spoons,  copper  tea-kettles  and 
coal-scuttles,  steel  pens,  tin  saucepans  and 
dish-covers ;  but  perhaps  you  have '  not 
thought  of  many  other  metals  and  their  uses. 
There  are  at  present  known  about  fifty-one 
distinct  metals,  which  cannot  be  decomposed. 
Some  of  these  have  been  only  discovered  so 
lately  that  we  may  suppose  other  unknown 


44  METALS. 

ones  still  to  exist;  and  they  are  separated 
from  their  ores  in  so  many  different  ways  that 
I  cannot  describe  all  very  particularly. 

Native  gold  is  procured  by  simply  washing 
and  picking  out  the  glittering  particles  from 
the  earth  or  sand  amidst  which  it  lies,  or  the 
quartz  rock  in  which  it  lies  is  picked  and 
blasted,  broken  up  and  crushed  with  hammers 
and  wheels,  and  mixed  with  mercury  in  pans* 
full  of  water.  The  water  flows  off  and  leaves 
the  amalgam  of  mercury  and  gold.  After- 
wards the  mercury  is  driven  off  in  vapour  by 
heat,  and  the  gold  remains  pure  behind,  only 
containing  here  and  there  small,  sharp  and 
exceedingly  hard  crystals  of  osmium,  iridium 
and  rhodium,  which  are  picked  out  at  the 
mint  and  sold  to  make  the  diamond  points  for 
gold  pens. 

The  amalgamation  of  silver  with  mercury 
in  South  America  is  effected  by  the  trampling 
of  horses,  but  the  quicksilver  soon  destroys 
their  hoofs,  and  in  a  very  few  years  they  are 
unfitted  for  work.  Gold  and  silver  are  too 
soft  for  use  as  money  without  an  alloy  of  cop- 
per ;  they  are  not  only  used  for  money  and 
for  ornament,  but,  as  ordinary  acids  do  not 
injure  them,  they  are  employed  for  spoons, 


QUICKSILVER.  45 

ladles  and  other  domestic  articles.  Silver, 
especially,  is  common  for  such  purposes,  and 
it  was  thought  that  aluminum,  or  clay  metal, 
which  is  as  white  as  silver  but  only  half  as 
heavy,  would  be  used  for  the  same  purposes; 
but  it  rusts  too  easily,  and  is  Very  hard  to  work, 
so  that  it  is  only  used  as  an  alloy.  Gold  and 
silver  make  beautiful  colours  also,  and  are 
therefore  used  in  colouring  glass  and  china- 
ware. 

Silver  combined  with  nitric  acid  produces 
the  caustic  of  the  surgeon ;  while  the  addition 
of  sap  green,  or  Indian  ink,  forms  marking- 
ink  :  when  alcohol  is  added,  fulminating  pow- 
der is  the  result, — an  exceedingly  dangerous 
compound,  which  explodes  with  a  very  little 
heat  or  friction.  This  powder  is  used  in 
making  lucifer  matches,  percussion-caps,  Con- 
greve  rockets,  and  such  things. 

A  little  silver  is  occasionally  found  in  quick- 
silver-mines, but  mercury  seldom  lies  in  silver- 
mines.  It  occurs  mostly  in  chalk  or  clay 
rocks,  sometimes  in  pure  globules,  but  more 
commonly  as  an  ore  with  sulphur,  called  cin- 
nabar, from  which  it  is  driven  off  as  a  vapour 
by  heat.  It  derives  its  name  of  "quick"  or 
living  silver  from  its  usual  fluid  state,  the 


46  METALS. 

movable  globules  continually  eluding  the  touch, 
as  if  it  were  alive.  It  is  usually  carried  either 
in  iron  or  glass  jars,  leather  bags,  or  bamboo 
canes.  Pliny  mentions  that  the  Greeks  ob- 
tained cinnabar  from  Almaden,  in  Spain,  700 
B.C.,  and  that  the  same  mines  in  his  own 
time  yielded  annually  seven  hundred  thousand 
pounds.  Quicksilver  is  still  derived  from 
them,  and  their  present  annual  product  is 
nearly  three  millions  of  pounds :  so  that  during 
the  last  three  thousand  years  they  must  have 
yielded  an  immense  quantity. 

There  are  some  quicksilver-mines  also  in 
Peru  and  in  China.  Mercury  was  discovered 
at  Idria,  in  Austria,  about  1497,  in  rather  a 
singular  manner,  which  shows  the  importance 
of  noticing  facts  occurring  in  daily  life,  and 
thinking  over  any  unusual  circumstance.  The 
district  at  that  time  abounded  in  wood,  and 
was  chiefly  inhabited  by  coopers.  One  even- 
ing a  cooper  placed  a  new  tub  under  a  drop- 
ping spring,  to  try  if  it  would  hold  water,  and 
the  next  morning  he  found  it  so  heavy  that  he 
could  scarcely  move  it.  At  first  his  super- 
stition led  him  to  think  it  was  bewitched ;  but, 
perceiving  a  shining  substance  at  the  bottom, 
he  collected  and  carried  it  to  the  town,  where 


QUICKSILVER.  47 

it  was  soon  ascertained  to  be  valuable  mercury. 
His  profits  from  the  sale  of  his  treasure  re- 
sulted in  a  successful  search  further  for  the 
metal. 

Quicksilver-mines  are  unhealthy  for  the 
work-people,  not  only  from  their  heated  atmo- 
sphere, but  from  the  danger  of  imbibing  the 
poisonous  mercury  itself  into  the  system 
through  any  little  scratch,  or  with  food.  The 
Austrian  mines  are  used  as  a  place  of  punish- 
ment for  state  criminals.  In  1810,  some  ships 
were  bringing  home  a  cargo  of  mercury  from 
Cadiz,  when  some  of  the  bags  burst  and  the 
contents  were  spilled.  All  the  copper  articles 
on  board  speedily  became  amalgamated:  rats, 
mice,  cockroaches,  a  canary-bird,  fowls,  dogs, 
cats,  sheep  and  goats  were  destroyed,  and  the 
whole  of  the  crew  were  seriously  ill :  indeed, 
two  of  them  died. 

Quicksilver  is  a  difficult  metal  to  use  in  the 
arts  on  this  account,  and,  even  with  great  care, 
our  mirror-makers  are  liable  to  a  disease 
called  "  the  shaking  palsy."  It  loosens  the 
teeth,  causes  the  hair  to  fall  off,  and  produces 
great  pain  and  softness  in  the  bones,  which  is 
greatly  aggravated  by  damp  weather.  As 
calomel,  it  is  used  in  medicine,  but  great  cau- 


48  METALS. 

tion  and  medical  advice  are  requisite  in  taking 
it.  The  brilliant  red  paint  called  vermilion 
as  produced  from  mercury.  Corrosive  sub- 
limate is  another  exceedingly  dangerous  pre- 
paration from  it,  used  for  preventing  dry-rot 
in  timber  and  mildew  in  sail-cloth. 

Mercury  is  never  seen  in  a  solid  state,  ex- 
cept when  frozen  solid  in  the  coldest  arctic 
regions, — when,  of  course,  the  philosophical 
instruments  depending  upon  it  are  rendered 
useless.  In  these  regions,  the  philosophers 
themselves  have,  for  curiosity  sake,  shot  bul- 
lets of  quicksilver  from  their  muskets. 

"They  told  me,"  said  Edward,  "when  I 
was  travelling  last  summer  up  the  Lehigh 
Kiver,  in  Pennsylvania,  that  they  made  iron 
out  of  stone.  What  does  that  mean  ?" 

Mr.  Goodman  then  described  the  iron-manu- 
facture, and  began  by  saying  that  iron  is 
never  found  in  a  pure  state,  like  gold  or  copper, 
but  only  as  ore,  of  which  there  are  six  princi- 
pal useful  varieties, — wanting  a  great  deal  of 
preparation  before  you  could  make  out  of  them 
a  spade  or  a  needle.  The  ore,  or  iron-stone,  as 
it  is  called,  is  first  roasted,  to  drive  off  the 
water,  sulphur  and  arsenic  with  which  it  is 
often  combined ;  then  smelted  in  a  high  stack- 


AN   IRON-FURNACE.  49 

furnace  with  coal  or  charcoal,  when  the  melted 
iron  runs  out  from  the  bottom  into  moulds  of 
sand  or  clay,  where  it  is  allowed  to  cool.  The 
rough  bars  of  cast  iron  are  called  "pigs," 
because  they  lie  side  by  side  along  the  casting- 
floor  in  the  sand,  all  attached  at  one  end  to  the 
great  stream  of  metal  down  the  centre,  called 
the  sow,  which  is  broken  up  and  smelted  over 
again,  while  the  pigs  are  heated  and  ham- 
mered into  blooms  or  balls  of  wrought  iron 
and  then  rolled  into  bars  and  sheets  for  use. 
Some  of  the  pig-metal  is  re-melted  and  run 
into  moulds  of  various  shapes,  to  make  cast- 
ings of  all  kinds,  pots  and  skillets,  railings, 
columns -for  buildings,  the  bed-plates  of  en- 
gines, cannon  and  cannon-balls,  car-wheels, 
and  a  thousand  other  things,  both  great  and 
small. 

An  iron-furnace  is  a  grand  object.  The 
largest  sort  are  sixty  feet  in  height,  built  up 
of  solid  masonry,  like  a  square  tower,  with 
sloping  sides,  in  every  one  of  which  is  a  great 
archway,  and  under  each  are  pipes  through 
which  hot  air  is  blown  through  holes  into  the 
raging  fire  within.  Sometimes  a  single  fur- 
nace-stack will  have  twelve  of  these  nozzles 
blowing  air  into  it  at  once.  The  nozzles,  or 

D  5 


50  METALS. 

"  tuyeres/'  as  they  are  called,  are  surrounded 
by  cool  running  water,  to  keep  them  from 
melting.  The  air  is  heated  in  furnaces  at  the 
top  of  the  stack,  and  driven  forward  by  power- 
ful steam-engines  and  great  air-pumps  of  cast 
iron.  The  coal,  ore  and  limestone  are  car- 
ried over  high  bridges  from  the  hill-side  to 
the  furnace-stack  top,  to  be  thrown  in  at  the 
"tunnel-head"  or  mouth  of  the  furnace;  or 
else  are  hoisted  up  in  movable  stages  by  the 
weight  of  water ;  or  else  are  drawn  up  on  long 
inclined  planes  by  steam-engines  from  the 
banks  of  the  canal  or  the  platform  of  the  rail- 
road. Sometimes  three,  four  or  five  of  these 
great  furnace-stacks  are  built  close  together 
in  a  row,  and  have  one  great  top  for  all,  on 
which  the  hot-air  ovens  stand,  and  along 
which  the  "  stock"  of  ore,  &c.  is  drawn  on 
wheelbarrows.  Tall  chimneys  rise  from  this 
high  place  still  higher  into  the  air,  and  per- 
petual flames  and  noxious  gases  pour  from  the 
tunnel-heads.  At  night  the  glare  of  the  fires 
above,  and  of  the  molten  metal  below,  the 
laborious  sighing  of  the  blast-pipes,  the  clank- 
ing of  the  hoisting-apparatus,  and  the  rolling 
of  the  trains  of  cars  bringing  ore  or  carrying 
off  the  metal,  make  a  scene  which  when  once 


COMBINED   ORES.  51 

seen  can  never  be  forgotten,  and  is  perhaps 
the  best  symbol  of  the  energy  and  productive- 
ness, the  skill  and  the  power,  of  the  Christian 
civilization  of  the  present  day. 

The  ores  used  by  furnace-men  are  very  dif- 
ferent, and  are  always  mixed  together,  so  that 
their  hurtful  qualities  may  neutralize  each 
other  and  their  admirable  qualities  may  be 
combined  in  the  cast  iron  which  is  made  from 
them.  Thus,  for  instance,  on  the  Lehigh 
River,  the  heavy  black  magnetic  and  zincy 
ores  of  the  New  Jersey  veins  are  mixed  with 
the  light,  porous  brown  hematite  or  "limonite" 
ores  dug  from  the  pits  around  Allentown. 
On  the  Schuylkill  and  Susquehanna,  this 
brown  hematite  ore  is  mixed  with  the  gray 
magnetic  coppery  ore  of  the  Cornwall  mine 
near  Lebanon.  On  the  North  Branch  of  the 
Susquehanna,  both  these  varieties  are  mixed 
with  the  blood-red  "  fossil  ore"  of  the  Mon- 
tour's  Ridge,  at  Danville  and  Bloomsburg. 
At  the  head-waters  of  the  Juniata,  this  fossil 
ore,  again,  is  mixed  not  only  with  the  pipe  ore 
of  the  interior  limestone  valleys,  but  also  with 
the  carbonate  ores  or  clay  iron-stone  of  the 
coal-measures.  At  Pittsburg,  and  in  Northern 
Ohio,  these  carbonate  ores  are  mixed  with  the 


52  METALS. 

magnetic  ore  which  comes  in  lake  boats  from 
Lake  Superior  and  in  steamboats  from  Mis- 
souri; and  both  these  varieties  are  mixed, 
again,  with  "  black  band"  ore;  and  soft  out- 
crop brown  hematite  ore,  found  also  in  the 
coal-measures.  Finally,  the  mixture  is  carried 
still  further  at  some  furnaces  which  stand  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  rolling  mills,  by  adding 
what  is  called  rolling-mill  cinder,  which  con- 
tains a  large  percentage  of  iron. 

Cast  iron  was  unknown,  but  casting -in  brass 
was  common,  in  the  days  of  Solomon,  when 
vessels  for  the  temple  were  "cast  in  the 
clay  ground  between  Succoth  and  Zarthan," 
(1  Kings  vii.  46,)  and  no  doubt  suggested  the 
preacher's  simile,  "If  thine  enemy  hunger, 
feed  him ;  if  he  thirst,  give  him  drink ;  for 
in  so  doiDg  thou  shalt  heap  coals  of  fire  upon 
his  head"  (Prov.  xxv.  22,)  or  melt  him  with 
thy  kindness, — repeated  also  by  the  Apostle 
Paul.  (Eom.  xii.  20.)  Perhaps  Solomon  used 
to  watch  the  workmen  smelting,  and  then  God 
put  the  thought  into  his  mind. 

Iron  is  refined  by  being  strongly  blown 
into  while  in  a  melted  state.  This  is  called 
the  Kelly  process,  and  is  in  use  in  the  Western 
States.  When  re-melted  and  blown  into, 


IRON.  53 

according  to  Bessemer's  process,  it  becomes 
excessively  hot,  and  loses  all  its  impurities, 
but  is  not  so  useful  as  when  it  has  a  small 
percentage  of  foreign  matter  left  in  it,  which 
seems  to  give  it  fibre  and  strength.  Small 
quantities  of  other  metals,  such  as  tungsten, 
are  found  to  be  beneficial  also  to  its  strength ; 
but  a  small  quantity  of  sulphur  left  in  iron 
makes  it  very  brittle  when  it  is  hot,  so  that 
it  cannot  be  worked  by  the  machinist  or  black- 
smith ;  and  small  portions  of  phosphorus  or 
silicon  make  it  very  brittle  when  it  is  cold. 
A  small  quantity  of  carbon  or  pure  coal  is 
mixed  with  iron  at  a  slow  heat  to  make  steel, 
— which  is  much  harder  than  iron.  Pure 
iron,  however,  can  be  somewhat  hardened  by 
plunging  it  into  cold  water.  The  uses  of  iron 
have  been  thus  well  described:  —  "It  can 
be  cast  into  moulds  of  any  form,  drawn  into 
wire  of  any  desired  strength  or  fineness, 
extended  into  plates,  or  beaten  in  every  direc- 
tion, and  can  be  sharpened,  hardened  and 
softened  at  pleasure.  Iron  is  equally  ser- 
viceable to  the  arts,  sciences,  agriculture 
and  war;  furnishes  the  sword,  the  plough- 
share and  prun ing-hook,  the  needle  and 
graver,  the  spring  of  a  watch  or  a  carriage, 

5* 


54  METALS. 

chisels,  chains,  anchors,  compasses,  cannons 
and  pens.  It  is  a  medicine  of  much  virtue, 
— the  only  metal  friendly  to  the  human 
frame."  Indeed,  I  do  not  know  what  we 
should  do  without  iron,  it  seems  a  metal  of 
such  every-day  importance.  Steam-engines, 
bridges,  ships,  houses  and  churches  are  now 
made  of  iron,  as  well  as  innumerable  articles 
of  domestic  use.  Swedish  iron  is  generally 
esteemed  the  best. 

It  is  a  singular  circumstance  that  the  only 
pure  native  iron  which  we  are  sure  has  ever 
been  found  has  come  from  the  sky,  in  the 
form  of  meteorolites,  or  stones  which  were 
wandering  in  space  until  they  met  the  earth 
upon  its  way.  Some  of  this  iron  has  a  mix- 
ture of  nickel  with  it,  and  w*hen  polished 
shows  a  fine  grain  and  shining  hue  nearly 
resembling  steel,  with  curious  markings  called 
the  Widmanstatian  figures.  The  Esquimaux 
use  this  meteoric  iron  for  their  spears,  and, 
indeed,  possess  no  other  metal.  How  this 
iron  could  drop  from  the  skies  has  never 
yet  been  explained,  and  various  theories  are 
proposed,  some  supposing  it  to  be  ejected 
from  volcanoes,  others  from  distant  planets, 
while  some  imagine  it  may  be  produced  by 


THE   LOADSTONE.  55 

some  process  in  the  atmosphere.  Professor 
Shephard,  at  Amherst,  in  Massachusetts,  has 
the  largest  collection  of  these  meteorites  ever 
made. 

Plumbago  has  been  considered  a  carburet 
of  iron ;  but  repeated  analyses  have  proved 
that  it  contains  so  small  a  proportion  of  the 
metal  that  it  must  be  looked  upon  as  a  sort 
of  anthracite  coal  with  iron  occasionally  pre- 
sent. It  has  never  yet  been  either  dissolved 
by  acid  or  melted  by  heat,  and  therefore  has 
not  the  true  characteristics  of  a  metal. 

Loadstone,  or  magnetic  iron  ore,  is  a  va- 
riety found  in  Norway,  Cornwall  and  Scot- 
land, China,  Bengal,  Arabia,  Asia  Minor  and 
the  United  States,  especially  at  Lake  Supe- 
rior, in  Missouri,  Northern  New  York,  in  the 
Highlands  of  the  Hudson  and  New  Jersey, 
and  along  the  Blue  Bidge  of  Virginia  and 
the  Carolinas.  It  is  the  richest  and  most 
valuable  of  all  the  ores  of  iron.  It  was  known 
to  the  ancients,  who  ascribed  medicinal  vir- 
tues to  it,  using  it  for  the  cure  of  burns  and 
weak  eyes.  The  Chinese  seem  to  have  disco- 
vered its  polarity  and  turned  it  to  use  as  a  com- 
pass long  before  the  Europeans,  and  by  them  it 
was  termed  "the  sailing  stone."  The  ancient 


56  METALS. 

Greeks  called  it  the  "  Herculean  stone,  because 
it  commands  iron,  which  subdues  every  thing 
else."  The  loadstone  not  only  attracts  pure 
iron  itself,  but  communicates  its  magnetic 
power  to  pure  iron  and  steel  when  rubbed 
upon  it :  hence  the  magnetic  needles  used  in 
the  mariner's  compass. 

Arctic  explorers  have  observed  that  the 
needle  dips  its  north  end  more  and  more 
towards  the  earth  as  it  is  carried  into  higher 
and  higher  latitudes,  until  at  last,  at  a  cer- 
tain point  called  the  North  Magnetic  Pole, 
it  stands  vertical,  and  beyond  that  it  points 
towards  the  south.  The  attraction  of  the 
surveyor's  compass-needle  for  the  masses  of 
iron  which  are  in  the  earth,  renders  it  almost 
useless  in  surveying  certain  portions  of  the 
earth's  surface, — especially  in  primary  re- 
gions. It  is  used,  however,  for  discovering 
the  existence  and  locality  of  veins  of  iron-ore. 
The  loadstone  enables  those  who  understand 
its  use  to  astonish  the  ignorant  by  many 
amusing  feats,  which  used  to  pass  for  magical 
wonders,  such  as  "  the  enchanted  swan,  the 
mysterious  watch,"  &c.,  by  which  a  waxen 
bird  appears  to  obey  its  master,  or  a  watch  to 
stop  or  go  on  at  the  command  of  its  owner. 


COPPER.  57 

Among  your  toys  you  used  to  have  some 
fishes  that  would  have  come  to  a  magnetic 
hook. 

Copper  is  generally  found  in  brilliant  ores, 
some  of  which  are  called  Peacock  copper. 
Copper  pyrites  look  so  glittering  and  attract- 
ive as  to  be  called  "  fool's  gold/'  because 
it  has  beguiled  the  inexperienced  into  fancy- 
ing that  a  mine  of  that  precious  metal  must 
exist  in  its  neighbourhood.  Copper  is  almost 
as  useful  as  iron,  not  only  in  furnishing 
boilers,  kettles  and  wire,  but  for  sheathing 
the  bottoms  of  ships,  to  protect  them  from 
the  action  of  water  and  the  attacks  of  sea- 
worms  :  it  is  also  used  to  furnish  green  and 
blue  colours  to  the  printer.  It  combines 
readily  with  some  other  metals, — with  zinc, 
forming  brass  and  pinchbeck ;  with  tin, 
in  different  proportions,  forming  bell-metal 
of  varied  sound,  and  also  bronze.  With  tin 
and  silver  it  makes  a  speculum  metal,  ca- 
pable of  receiving  the  highest  polish,  and 
used  as  mirrors  for  large  telescopes ;  and, 
with  tin  and  nickel,  it  forms  German  silver 
and  other  compounds  of  white  metal  for 
spoons,  forks,  teapots  and  other  articles  of 
domestic  use.  The  oxide  or  rust  of  copper, 


58  METALS. 

however,  is  highly  poisonous :  therefore  the 
old-fashioned  custom  of  boiling  a  penny  with 
greens,  pickles  and  preserves,  is  dangerous. 
A  copper-mine  was  discovered  in  Wicklow 
by  a  stream  of  blue  water  flowing  from  it, 
of  so  injurious  a  quality  as  to  destroy  all 
the  fish  in  the  river  Arklow;  and  a  work- 
man having  left  an  iron  shovel  in  this  stream 
for  a  few  days  found  it  encrusted  with 
copper, — the  copper  thus  obtained  being  of 
a  purer  quality  than  that  produced  by 
smelting,  and  the  process  a  much  less  trou- 
blesome one. 

The  largest  known  copper-mines  are  in 
Sweden,  one  of  which  is  twelve  hundred  feet 
deep,  and  its  mouth  so  extensive,  from  having 
once  or  twice  fallen  in,  that  the  visitor  is  a 
full  hour  reaching  the  bottom.  Fires  have 
broken  out  in  it,  and  many  passages  are  filled 
up  to  prevent  their  spreading;  but  the  hot 
and  sulphurous  vapours  are  still  excessively 
oppressive.  This  mine  was  anciently  used  as 
a  State  prison,  in  which  criminals,  slaves  and 
prisoners  of  war  toiled  during  their  miserable 
lives ;  and  here,  too,  Gustavus  Vasa,  disguised 
as  a  peasant,  worked  for  his  daily  bread  during 
a  long  concealment,  after  having  been  robbed 


MUNDIC.  59 

by  his  guide ;  and  it  was  well,  perhaps,  that 
he  experienced  some  of  the  sufferings  of  his 
state  prisoners.  Much  of  our  copper-ore 
comes  from  Chili,  in  South  America,  and  a 
good  deal  from  Eastern  Tennessee ;  but  the 
richest  mines  in  this  country  are  those  of 
Keweenaw  Point,  on  Lake  Superior.  Two 
millions  of  dollars'  worth  of  copper-ore  was 
sent  from  that  region  in  1859. 

The  famous  malachite  is  an  ore  of  copper 
found  in  the  copper-mines  of  Russia,  Norway, 
Wales,  England  and  the  Shetland  Isles.  Its 
beautiful  colour,  and  the  soft  lustre  which 
exhibits  all  its  streaks,  render  it  a  pretty 
material  for  ornaments. 

Mundic  is  another  ore  of  copper,  most 
abundant  in  Cornwall,  where  it  was  long 
considered  of  no  use  except  to  nourish  the 
copper, — a  curious  miner's  notion,  which  of 
course  had  no  foundation.  You  have  some 
cubes  of  mundic  there ;  and  the  grain  seems 
to  be  different  on  every  side,  so  that  if  you 
were  to  cut  through  the  cube  you  would 
cross  the  grain  on  its  opposite  side.  The 
reason  of  this  has  never  been  explained,  but 
it  is  one  of  its  peculiarities. 

"  Was  my  lump  of  lead  just  as  it  came  out 


60  METALS. 

of  the  mine,  father?"  asked  Edward,  looking 
ruefully  at  his  workmanship. 

"  No,"  said  Mr.  Goodman ;  for  lead  also  is 
almost  always  found  as  an  ore,  commonly 
mixed  with  sulphur;  but  there  are  fourteen 
or  fifteen  varieties  occurring  commonly  in 
limestone.  The  most  common  and  productive 
is  galena,  or  sulphuret  of  lead.  The  carbon- 
ate of  lead,  a  heavy  white  clay,  is  also  greatly 
valued  as  an  ore,  and  usually  accompanies 
the  sulphuret.  The  ores  of  zinc  are  almost 
always  found  in  company  with  these  ores  of 
lead,  especially  in  the  limestone  fissures  of 
Wisconsin,  Iowa  and  Missouri.  The  ore  is 
roasted  and  smelted  in  small  open  furnaces. 
Small  cubes  of  pure  lead  are  occasionally  seen 
among  crystals  of  lime  in  the  Derbyshire 
mines.  It  is  a  soft  metal,  and  easily  spread 
into  sheets  for  roofing,  flooring,  or  for  cis- 
terns. River  and  spring  water  may  be  stored 
in  these  safely;  but  pure  distilled  water  soon 
corrodes  the  lead,  and  dissolves  sufficiently  to 
render  the  water  unwholesome. 

Bullets  and  shot  are  made  of  lead,  but  it  is 
mixed  with  arsenic  to  make  it  hard  enough. 
Joined  with  tin,  it  forms  pewter  and  solder- 
ing metal.  With  antimony  and.  tin,  it  makes 


LEAD   PIPE.  61 

type  and  stereotype  metal.  Litharge,  red 
lead,  white  lead  and  sugar  of  lead  are  all 
oxides,  or  rusts,  of  lead,  employed  as  paints,  or 
for  making  coloured  glass,  or  for  glazing  pot- 
tery and  enamelled  vases.  Lead  pipe  is  now 
made  by  passing  half-melted  lead  through  a 
hole  in  the  bottom  of  a  reservoir,  in  which  is 
a  plug  of  iron  of  the  size  of  the  pipe-bore. 
The  pipe  as  it  forms  is  wound  upon  an  im- 
mense drum,  and  afterwards  cut  into  required 
lengths. 

It  is  a  pretty  experiment  to  hang  a  small 
lump  of  zinc  in  a  bottle,  and  then  dissolve 
sugar  of  lead  in  water  for  making  zinc  trees. 
Little  branches  speedily  show  themselves  all 
over  the  lump  of  zinc  hung  in  the  solution. 
Lecturers  on  chemistry  often  make  this  experi- 
ment, to  prove  the  chemical  affinity  the  zinc  has 
for  the  lead ;  for  those  little  branches  are  really 
the  lead  attracted  from  the  water  by  the 
zinc,  and  thus  deposited, — perhaps  in  some 
degree  explaining  how  metals  are  accumulated 
in  veins  in  company.  Interesting  changes  are 
remarked  upon  coins  that  have  been  long 
buried  in  the  earth,  and  in  the  metal  utensils 
discovered  in  Assyria. 

There  are  no  true  mines  of  zinc,  but  it  is 

6 


62  METALS. 

found  in  two  ores,  calamine  and  zinc-blende, 
in  England,  Germany,  China  and  the  United 
States.  It  requires  all  the  processes  of  roast- 
ing, washing  and  smelting,  and  then  rises  as 
vapour  to  the  top  of  large  furnaces  like  glass- 
houses, and  is  conducted  by  tubes  passing 
through  water  in  small  globules,  which  are 
afterwards  melted  together  and  cast  into 
ingots  for  sale.  It  is,  as  you  may  suppose, 
a  light  metal,  but,  notwithstanding  all  this 
preparation,  it  is  comparatively  cheap,  so  as  to 
permit  its  use  for  chimney-pots,  water-spouts, 
roofing  and  flooring.'  It  is  quickly  affected 
by  acids,  and  is,  therefore,  not  suited  for  use 
in  the  kitchen  or  dairy.  Zinc  plates  are  used 
for  the  transfer  of  printing,  under  the  name 
of  zincography.  Joined  with  copper,  zinc 
forms  brass,  as  I  mentioned  before ;  and  when 
plunged  into  sulphuric  acid  it  is  the  powerful 
generator  of  electricity  in  the  Voltaic  pile 
battery.  Zinc  forms  the  other  ingredient  of 
the  celebrated  Franklinite  iron-ore  of  New 
Jersey,  and,  by  clogging  the  furnace-stacks 
and  the  burden  of  ore  and  coal,  has  proved  a 
formidable  obstacle  to  the  use  of  that  valuable 
ore  in  the  iron-manufacture.  And  yet  a  small 


TIN.  63 

mixture  of  zinc  in  iron  adds  greatly  to  the 
toughness  and  strength  of  the  latter. 

Tin  was  one  of  the  metals  known  to  the 
ancients.  You  have  some  pretty  specimens 
of  tin-ore  here,  and  minute  grains  of  it.  are 
found  in  granite.  It  is  mentioned  by  Moses 
(Num.  xxxi.  22)  among  the  six  metals  found 
in  the  spoils  of  the  Midianites,  which  were 
to  be  purified  from  heathen  idolatry  by  fire. 
'As  these  Midianites  were  "  merchantmen" 
trading  with  "pieces  of  silver"  in  Joseph's 
time,  they  doubtless  traded  also  with  "  the 
strong  city  of  Tyre"  (Josh.  xix.  28)  of  that 
period ;  and  it  is  known  that  British  tin  was 
brought  to  Phoenicia,  of  which  Tyre  was  one 
of  the  principal  cities,  in  very  early  times. ' 

Tin  is  by  no  means  universally  diffused, 
and  in  fact  is  a  very  rare  metal.  A  small 
vein  of  it  was  discovered  in  the  White  Moun- 
tains of  New  Hampshire ;  but  it  has  never 
been  wrought.  A  valuable  vein  of  tin-ore  is 
reported  as  lately  discovered  on  the  western 
borders  of  Utah.  There  is  a  little  tin-ore  in 
Chili,  Mexico  and  the  East  Indies,  but  it  is 
abundant  in  Cornwall  and  Devonshire,  Eng- 
land,— in  two  sorts  of  ore  only,  though  occa- 
sionally it  appears  quite  pure  in  small  crys- 


64  METALS. 

tals.  Indeed,  block- tin  is  a  collection  of 
minute  crystals  intercepting  one  another  in 
every  possible  direction,  so  as  to  leave  tiny 
spaces  between.  Hence  it  is  a  light  metal, 
and  produces  a  peculiar  crackling  noise  in 
bending,  which  the  French  call  "le  cri  de 
l'etain,"  or  "  the  cry  of  tin."  Attention  to 
the  shape  and  direction  of  the  crystals  greatly 
assists  the  polishing  of  metals.  Tin  is  broken 
into  small  pieces  and  melted  over  and  over 
again,  till  it  looks  as  bright  as  silver,  and  is 
then  cooled,  and  ladled  gradually  into  moulds, 
because,  if  quickly  poured  into  them  while 
hot,  the  tin  becomes  brittle.  It  is  too  soft 
and  too  valuable  to  be  used  alone,  but  is  con- 
stantly employed  for  lining  and  coating  iron 
utensils.  •  It  will  bear  beating  into  leaves 
only  the  thousandth  part  of  an  inch  thick, 
and  therefore,  as  tin-foil  or  tin-leaf,  is  much 
used  for  the  lining  of  tea-caddies  and  the 
packing  of  articles  that  must  be  kept  dry. 
Mixed  with  lead,  tin  forms  pewter.  It  is 
also  used  with  mercury  for  silvering  the  back 
of  mirrors  and  looking-glasses,  and,  when  dis- 
solved in  muriatic  acid,  it  furnishes  colours 
for  dyers  and  calico-printers. 

Edward  now  showed  his  father  a  piece  of 


PLATINA.  65 

ore  labelled  "needles  of  antimony,"  and  asked 
if  that  were  the  same  mineral  used  for  anti- 
monial  wine.  Mr.  Goodman  told  him  that 
oxide  of  antimony  was  used  for  that  purpose. 
The  metal  itself  is  found  nearly  pure  in 
veins  amidst  the  mountains  of  Dauphins'  and 
Sweden,  as  well  as  the  Hartz  Mountains.  It 
is,  as  may  be  seen  from  that  specimen,  ex- 
tremely brittle  and  easily  corroded.  It  is 
very  useful  in  the  arts  for  the  white  metal 
often  used  instead  of  silver  for  music-plates. 
Its  sulphuret  forms  the  black  powder  with 
which  the  ladies  of  ancient  times  used  to  stain 
their  eyebrows  and  eyelids.  Oxide  of  anti- 
mony gives  colour  to  the  artificial  imitations 
of  beryls,  topazes  and  yellow  diamonds.  .Anti- 
mony and  bismuth  usually  go  together,  but 
their  power  of  conducting  heat  is  so  different 
that  when  two  pieces  are  soldered  together 
and  a  stream  of  galvanism  is  sent  through 
them  in  one  direction,  a  drop  of  water  laid  in 
the  crease  between  them  will  boil ;  but  when 
the  current  is  reversed  the  drop  of  water  will 
freeze. 

Platina  must  be  added  to  this  list  of  metals. 
The  term  is  a  diminutive  of  "plata,"  the 
Spanish  for  silver.  It  is  so  scarce  as  to  be 

E  6* 


66  METALS. 

almost  as  costly  as  gold,  and  is  really  nearly 
as  valuable,  as  it  is  heavier  and  more  difficult 
to  melt,  yet  ntill  more  ductile  and  flexible.  It 
is  also  very  malleable, — that  is,  it  can,  when 
hot,  be  easily  beaten  out  and  welded  to  iron 
and  steel.  Neither  air,  water  nor  any  simple 
acids  injure  it,  though  it  can  be  converted 
into  a  chloride  by  nitro-muriatic  acid.  It  is, 
therefore,  exceedingly  useful  to  the  chemist 
for  his  crucibles,  and  is  sometimes  employed 
for  the  mirrors  of  reflecting  telescopes.  There 
are  no  platina-mines.  It  is  generally  found 
combined  with  palladium,  rhodium,  titanium, 
gold,  iron  and  other  metals,  but  in  very  small, 
heavy  grains,  seldom  larger  than  a  pea  or 
a  nut. 

The  last-named  substances  are  some  of  the 
new  metals  which  have  been  discovered 
during  the  past  century,  but  not  in  sufficient 
quantities  to  make  them  very  available  for 
use.  Cobalt,  manganese,  arsenic  and  nickel 
are  the  principal  of  these ;  though  manganese 
was  known  in  Pliny's  time,  being  then  deemed 
an  earth.  It  is  much  used  by  potters  and 
glass-makers  for  colouring,  and  yields  brown 
to  the  calico-printer.  The  ore  of  manganese, 
called  black  wad,  is  remarkable  for  its  spon- 


BISMUTH.  67 

taneous  combustion  with  oil.  It  is  used  also 
for  obtaining  chlorine  for  bleaching-purposes. 

Cobalt  and  its  oxide,  smalt,  give  a  beautiful 
blue  tint  to  glass,  china-ware  and  paper.  Nickel 
is  susceptible  of  magnetism,  and  is  therefore 
sometimes  used  for  the  mariner's  compass. 

Arsenic  is  employed  for  hardening  candles, 
making  flint-glass,  and  dyes  of  green,  red,  and 
yellow,  as  well  as  for  tinting  fireworks.  It  is 
much  used  in  medicine,  and  yet  is  so  deadly 
a  poison  that  it  destroys  human  and  animal 
life  very  rapidly.  Even  its  fumes  are  inju- 
rious to  health. 

Bismuth  is  a  pretty-looking  metal,  not 
very  common,  and  of  little  use,  as  it  melts 
even  before  it  is  red-hot.  This,  however, 
adapts  it  for  a  soft,  soldering  material.  Sir 
Isaac  Newton  composed  a  fusible  metal  con- 
sisting of  eight  parts  of  bismuth,  five  of  tin 
and  three  of  lead,  which,  though  hard  enough 
to  polish  when  cold,  ,would  melt  so  readily 
in  hot  fluid  that  spoons  made  of  it  will  dis- 
appear in  stirring  a  cup  of  tea,  to  the  no 
small  dismay  of  an  ignorant  person. 

These  are  n'ot  all  the  new  metals.  The 
following  is  a  list  of  the  whole;  though  of 
many  of  them  little  else  is  known  than  the 


68 


METALS. 


name,  suggested  by  the  odour,  colour,  or 
some  such  circumstance;  and  they  are  not 
yet  much  used  either  in  art  or  medicine. 


1.  Gold. 

2.  Silver. 

3.  Copper. 

4.  Iron. 

5.  Tin. 

6.  Lead. 

7.  Mercury,  or  Quicksilver. 

8.  Zinc. 

9.  Antimony, 

10.  Bismuth. 

11.  Cobalt. 

12.  Nickel. 

13.  Manganese. 

14.  Arsenic. 

15.  Platinum. 

16.  Palladium. 

17.  Rhodium. 

18.  Osmium, — so  called  from 

osme,  odour. 

19.  Iridium, — from    its    iris 

or  rainbow  hue. 

20.  Tungsten. 

21.  Tellurium, — from  tellus, 


22.  Molybdenum, — from 

molybdos,  lead. 

23.  Uranium. 

24.  Titanium. 

25.  Columbium. 

26.  Cerium. 

27.  Cadmium. 

28.  Chromium. 

29.  Vanadium. 

30.  Zirconium. 

31.  Sodium. 

32.  Potassium. 

33.  Calcium. 

34.  Silicon. 

35.  Aluminum. 

36.  Silenium. 

37.  Lithium. 

38.  Barium. 

39.  Strontium. 

40.  Magnesium. 

41.  Yttrium. 

42.  Glucinum. 

t 

43.  Thorinium.*  J 


the  earth. 

The  metals  bracketed  together  are  never 


*  Some  others  have  been  named  recently,  but  have 
scarcely  been  sufficiently  proved  to  be  classed  with  the 
above. 


ALCHEMY.  69 

found  separate  in  nature,  and  are  of  little  use 
by  themselves;  but  their  oxides  form  the 
substances  known  as  earths  and  alkalies,  clay, 
sand,  soda,  potash,  lime,  magnesia,  &c.  At 
some  other  time  these  may  be  considered  by 
themselves;  but  they  come  in  here  because 
they  really  have  "  a  metallic  basis,"  that  is, 
their  simplest  and  purest  form  is  that  of 
metals. 

Edward  asked  his  father  if  he  thought  it 
possible  to  change  metals  into  gold,  as  the  old 
alchemists  fancied. 

He  replied  that  there  is  no  evidence  that  it 
is  possible.  The  history  of  the  few  imagined 
successes  is  so  doubtful,  and  the  circumstances 
described  are  so  improbable,  that  we  must  think 
the  alchemists  were  deceived,  by  the  weight  or 
colour,  as  to  the  value  of  the  compounds  they 
produced.  Moreover,  as  the  Scriptures  say, 
'"  Thou  canst  not  make  one  hair  white  or 
black,"  it  is  not  likely  that  the  greater  change 
of  lead  to  gold  should  be  within  human 
power. 

In  reply  to  this,  Mr.  Goodman  remarked  that 
it  is  very  difficult  to  form  a  just  opinion  of  their 
character  or  views.  It  is  strange  that  they 
could  have  been  willing  to  lend  themselves  to 


70  METALS. 

the  impostures  to  which  they  certainly  gave 
currency.  Many  of  them  were  men  of  great 
learning  and  of  irreproachable  character.  Roger 
Bacon  (commonly  called  Friar  Bacon,  being 
an  English  monk  of  the  order  of  the  Francis- 
cans, born  in  the  year  1214,)  exposed  the 
absurdity  of  magic,  necromancy  and  charms, 
yet  professed  his  belief  in  alchemy. 

Doubtless  many  persons  were  deceived  and 
deluded  by  plausible  pretenders,  and  others 
were  induced  to  embrace  and  propagate  the 
belief  from  sordid  and  corrupt  motives.  If 
they  had  access  to  the  sacred  writings,  they 
certainly  did  not  take  heed  to  them,  or  they 
would  have  learned  to  distrust  the  principles 
of  their  (so-called)  science.  They  could  not 
fail  to  notice  how  the  lead,  iron  and  silver, 
which  the  alchemists  were  most  anxious  to 
transmute  into  gold,  are  continually  mentioned 
as  "  abiding  the  fire,"  as  being  only  "  tried/' 
"  purified,"  by  its  action,  but  always  retaining 
their  own  characteristics.  Indeed,  these  pro- 
perties rendered  metals  a  frequent  type  of  God's 
dealings  with  his  servants.  "  I  will  refine  them 
as  silver  is  refined,  and  try  them  as  gold  is  tried," 
says  God  by  his  prophet  Zechariah.  (xiii.  9.) 
"When  he  hath  tried  me,"  says  Job,  (xxiii. 


SCRIPTURAL   ILLUSTRATIONS.  71 

10,)  "  I  shall  come  forth  as  gold."  "  He  shall 
sit  as  a  refiner  and  purifier  of  silver,"  (Mai. 
iii.  3;)  an  image  which  is  peculiarly  apt,  as 
the  silver  is  perfected  only  when  the  refiner 
can  see  his  own  image  reflected  in  it,  remind- 
ing us  of  the  purpose  of  all  affliction  to  assimi- 
late our  characters  to  that  of  the  Lord  Jesus 
Christ,  the  Great  Eefiner.  (Ezek.  xxii.  19,  22.) 
Then,  again,  iron  and  brass  denote  obstinacy 
on  the  part  of  man.  "Thou  art  obstinate," 
says  Isaiah,  (xlyiii.  4,)  "  thy  neck  is  an  iron 
sinew,  and  thy  brow  brass,"  and  needed  the 
threatened  punishment,  to  be  broken  by  a  rod 
of  iron.  The  Apostle  Paul  stigmatizes  pro- 
fession without  practice  as  being  but  "  as 
sounding  brass."  (1  Cor.  xiii.  1.)  God's  ene- 
mies were  said  to  sink  "  as  lead  in  the  mighty 
waters,"  (Exod.  xv.  10,)  or  to  be  consumed  in 
the  fire,  "cast  away  like  refuse  silver,"  (Jer. 
vi.  29,  30,)  because  the  Lord  had  rejected 
them. 

Mr.  Goodman  concluded  his  remarks  on 
metals  by  urging  his  children  to  remember 
these  illustrations  of  sin  and  of  duty,  and 
especially  the  warning  given  against  covetous- 
ness;  for  the  Bible  says  that  "he  that  loveth 
silver  shall  not  be  satisfied  with  silver."  (Ec- 


72  METALS. 

cles.  v.  10.)  The  apostle  adds,  Your  silver 
and  gold,  ye  rich  men,  is  corrupted ;  the  rust 
of  them — if  suffered  to  lie  by  useless — shall 
be  a  witness  against  you.  Ye  have  heaped 
up  treasure  for  the  last  day,  (James  v.  3,) 
when  an  account  of  your  property  will  be  re- 
quired. Such  riches  are  for  the  earth  only, 
and  must  be  relinquished  at  the  threshold  of 
eternity.  Those  only  who  are  rich  in  faith  in 
our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ  will  carry  their 
wealth  beyond  the  grave.  May  you,  my 
children,  be  well  furnished  with  the  only  true 
riches ! 


SPHENOPHYLLUM  TRANSVERSE  SECTION  OF  STIGMARIA  FICOTDES  ;  net. 

SCHLOTHEIMI  ;  M.  Adolphc  Brongniart. 

nat.  size.  This  specimen  shows  that  the  cylinder  (a  in  Lign.  36)  is 

formed  of  bundles  of  vascular  tissue,  disposed  in  rays. 


FOSSIL  FRUITS,  OR  SEED- 
VESSELS;  nat. 

FIG.  2  —  CARPOLITHES  BCCKI.AN- 
DII.  Coralline  Oolite, 
Malt  on. 

3. — TRIOONOCARPITM  OLIVER- 
FORME.  Snibstone  Col- 
liery. 
L1=  See  page  91. 


LEPIDOSTROBT,  THE  FRUIT  OF  LEPIDOPEN- 

DRA  ;  nat. 
tCoalbrook  Dale. 

Fio.  2. — The  upper  part  of  a  cone,  display- 
ing the  imbiicated  surface. 
3. — A  young  specimen  attached  to  the 
extremity  of  a  branch. 

ODD.  T>.  72. 


TREASURES.  73 


CHAPTEE  III. 

COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

As  summer  advanced,  the  grotto  became  a 
favourite  retreat  with  the  whole  family.  Alice 
enjoyed  counting  up  the  names  of  the  various 
contributions  to  its  beauty  as  memorials  of 
friendship,  while  Edward  found  in  them 
ample  food  for  his  philosophical  research,  Mr. 
Goodman  being  the  referee  and  instructor, 
whenever  he  could  spare  time  for  the  pur- 
pose. 

/  Among  the  treasures  thus  gathered  were 
some  remarkable  pieces  of  coal  and  coke, 
which  Edward  had  obtained  from  various 
colliers ;  some  sulphurs  his  father  had  brought 
from  abroad;  bitumen  from  an  Egyptian 
mummy;  and  one  beautiful  specimen  of 
amber,  enclosing  an  insect  and  part  of  a  de- 
cayed leaf. 

The  young  people  were  admiring  these  one 
morning,  when  Mr.  Goodman  joined  them,  and, 


74  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

pointing  out  the  coal  and  bitumen,  said  that 
they  might  both  be  classed  with  amber  in. 
some  respects. 

"  Indeed,  father  ?"  exclaimed  Alice.  "  They 
seem  very  dissimilar. " 

Mr.  Goodman  replied  that  they  are  all  com- 
bustibles, and  have  very  similar  origin;  for  it 
is  now  fully  ascertained  that  they  are  the 
remains  of  ancient  vegetation,  coal  being  the 
moss,  ferns  and  leaves,  amber  the  gum,  and 
bitumen  the  turpentine,  sap  and  juices  of 
whole  forests,  which,  by  the  arrangements  of 
God's  wisdom,  have  been  buried  under  ground, 
where  they  have  gradually  been  changed  into 
these  useful  minerals.  Asphaltum,  petroleum, 
naphtha,  and  some  other  compounds  of  hydro- 
gen and  carbon  may  be  considered  as  varieties 
of  coal, — though  they  are  not  always  found 
together,  for  coal  often  occurs  without  bitumen 
or  amber,  but  bitumen  and  amber  are  never 
found  excepting  in  the  neighbourhood  of  coal- 
formations. 

Amber  has  been  found  from  time  imme- 
morial on  the  sea-shore  in  Prussia,  thrown  up 
by  the  waves ;  but  there  are  mines  of  it  near 
Dantzic  about  one  hundred  feet  deep,  where 
there  is  a  thick  stratum  of  half-decomposed 


AMBER.  75 

trees,  yielding  bitumen  and  amber,  which 
sometimes  hangs  in  stalactites  from  the 
branches.  When  burnt  in  the  open  air,  it 
gives  out  a  thick,  pungent,  fragrant  smoke, 
leaving  a  light-shining  black  coke  as  its  re- 
sidue. When  distilled,  it  yields  succinic  acid, 
so  called  from  the  Latin  name  of  amber, — sue- 
cinum;  and  the  ash  or  residue  is  used  for 
making  fine  black  varnish. 

Alice  said  she  should  never  have  supposed 
the  pretty  transparent  amber  could  make 
coal, — it  looked  so  very  different. 

Mr.  Goodman  remarked  that  the  difference, 
after  all,  was  great.  It  will  bear  a  brilliant 
polish  for  beads  and  boxes.  It  may  be  boiled 
in  water  without  softening  or  altering  its  ap- 
pearance ;  but,  when  melted  by  heat,  it  yields 
oil,  which  is  at  first  colourless,  but,  if  exposed 
to  light  or  to  much  greater  heat,  it  becomes 
brown,  and  afterward  a  thick,  black  mass, 
almost  like  bitumen.  It  can  be  dissolved  in 
sulphuric  acid  and  some  powerful  oils,  but, 
when  once  melted,  cannot  be  restored  to  its 
natural  transparency.  It  is  of  various  colours, 
but  most  commonly  either  white  or  yellow, 
and  is  used  very  much  for  oil-varnishes.  It 
was  known  to  the  ancient  Arabs,  Greeks  and 


76  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

Romans ;  indeed,  the  Arabs  called  it  ambra. 
All  these  nations  used  it  as  a  medicine,  and 
the  Eomans  valued  it  as  a  gem,  importing  it 
largely  for  ornamental  purposes.  It  was  sup- 
posed to  have  magical  virtues,  and  was  hung 
about  the  necks  of  children  to  preserve  them 
from  sickness, — a  superstition  which  still  con- 
tinues in  force  in  some  countries.  Thales,  of 
Miletus,  who  lived  six  hundred  years  before 
Christ,  noticed  its  electric  property  of  attract- 
ing light  bodies,  when  heated  by  rubbing; 
and  the  prophet  Ezekiel,  (i.  4;  viii.  2,)  who 
lived  about  the  same  time,  mentions  it  as  a 
substance  familiar  to  the  Jews  in  Chaldea. 
Most  animals  seem  fond  of  amber,  and  eat  it 
when  they  find  it,  without  injurious  effects. 

Jet,  also,  is  a  sort  of  coal,  but  very  hard 
and  used  for  ornament :  it  is  known  as  pitch- 
coal,  and  in  Prussia  it  is  called  black  amber. 
It  takes  its  name  from  the  river  Gaya,  in  Asia 
Minor,  where  it  was  first  noticed;  it  will  bear 
a  brilliant  polish,  and  is  cut  into  rosaries, 
boxes,  brooches,  inkstands,  &c.  The  Isles  of 
Skye  and  Feroe  yield  it,  and  large  quantities 
are  found  in  Mexico  and  other  volcanic  coun- 
tries. 

"What  is  bitumen,  father?"  asked  Edward. 


BITUMEN. 


77 


"  Our  specimen  looks  like  a  lump  of  very  dry 
old  resin." 

Mr.  Goodman,  taking  up  the  specimen,  re- 
plied that  bitumen  is  rather  the  general  name 
for  several  sorts  of  mineral  oil,  pitch,  mineral 
hatchetine,  tallow  and  caoutchouc,  which  are 
found  in  the  earth,  seeming  to  have  been  origin- 
ally vegetable  juices,  and  are  now  in  various 
stages  of  mineralization.  The  remains  of  ancient 
fish  in  some  formations — such  as  the  Old  Red 
Sandstone — are  converted  into  animal  bitumen ; 
and  many  rocks  which  give  a  fetid  odour 
when  broken  are  supposed  to  owe  this  pro- 
perty to  animal  bitumen  from  the  decom- 
position of  creatures  now  no  longer  existing. 

Naphtha,  petroleum  and  Barbadoes  tar  are 
highly  inflammable  mineral  liquids,  found 
issuing  from  the  earth  or  dropping  from  the 
rocks  in  some  parts  of  Europe  and  Asia. 
Naphtha  is  often  collected  into  wells,  and, 
when  lighted,  will  burn  for  a  long  time.  It 
is  frequently  used  for  lamps,  and  in  Italy 
whole  cities  are  lighted  by  it.  Its  odour  is 
strong,  but  not  unpleasant,  and  its  power  of 
dissolving  oils  and  resins  renders  it  very  use- 
ful in  the  arts,  especially  in  dissolving  caout- 
chouc for  water-proof  clothing. 
7* 


78  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

Petroleum  is  found  in  small  quantities  in 
England/  but  very  abundantly  in  the  East 
and  West  Indies.  Near  the  town  of  Rainan- 
ghong,  in  the  Birman  Empire,  there  are  no 
less  than  five  hundred  and  twenty  wells  into 
which  petroleum  flows  from  adjacent  coal- 
beds.  No  water  ever  penetrates  into  these 
wells ;  but  more  than  four  hundred  thousand 
hogsheads  of  petroleum  are  annually  procured, 
which  is  extensively  used  for  lamps,  and,  when 
mixed  with  earth,  furnishes  an  important  sup- 
ply of  fuel.  With  us,  in  America,  it  is  known 
as  Seneca-oil,  from  the  town  of  Seneca,  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  where  it  was  first  ob- 
tained. But  it  is  abundant  in  many  places  in 
the  coal-regions,  especially  around  their  edges, 
as  on  Oil  Creek,  in  Northwestern  Pennsylvania. 
At  one  time,  a  large  quantity  of  it  took  fire  on 
the  surface  of  a  small  river  in  Ohio,  and  for 
half  a  mile  the  stream  was  one  sheet  of 
flame.  It  ascends  with  the  salt  water  from 
the  salt-borings,  and  is  not  only  sold  for 
burning-fluid  and  machine-oil,  but  is  used  for 
boiling  the  salt  water,  making  salt,  and  even 
for  lighting  houses  and  villages  with  gas. 

There  are  so  many  natural  gas-vents  in 
India,  Persia,  China  and  various  parts  of  the 


ASPHALTE.  79 

world, — some  of  which  have  been  burning  for 
centuries, — that  it  is  astonishing  gas  was  not 
sooner  turned  to  account  in  the  arts.  The 
salt-works  of  Thsee  Lieon  Teing,  indeed,  were 
long  heated  and  lighted  by  these  fiery  foun- 
tains, which  rose  sometimes  twenty  or  thirty 
feet  high.  Bamboo  pipes  carried  the  gas  from 
the  springs  wherever  needed,  tubes  of  pipe- 
clay being  fixed  at  the  burning  points.  At 
these  works,  a  single  gas-well  heats  more  than 
three  hundred  kettles;  and  the  fire  thus 
kindled  is  said  to  be  so  exceedingly  brisk  that 
the  cauldrons  are  useless  in  a  few  months. 
Three  columns  of  flame  carry  off  the  super- 
fluous gas.  The  village  of  Fredonia,  in  the 
State  of  New  York,  is  lighted  in  a  similar 
manner  from  natural  gas.  In  both  these 
cases  the  gas  is  ascertained  to  ascend  from 
beds  of  bituminous  coal. 

Asphalte  is  so  similar  to  petroleum  as  to  be 
apparently  the  same  thing  in  a  more  solid 
form.  It  occurs  abundantly  on  the  shores  of 
the  Dead  Sea,  which  was  anciently  called 
Lacus  Asphaltites  in  consequence.  It  was 
largely  employed  by  the  ancients  in  building. 
All  writers  agree  that  the  bricks  in  the  walls 
of  Babylon  were  cemented  with  hot  asphalte, 


80  COAL   AND    COMBUSTIBLES. 

which  rendered  them  very  solid.  The  Egyp- 
tians used  it  in  embalming  the  dead.  The 
lump  of  bitumen  you  have  here  was  taken 
from  the  head  of  a  mummy. 

Much  of  the  asphalte  used  in  England  is 
furnished  by  the  Pitch  Lake  of  Trinidad, 
which  is  three  miles  in  circumference,  of  un- 
known thickness,  and  sometimes  hard  enough 
for  men  and  cattle  to  walk  upon  it.  Melted 
and  mixed  with  sand,  gravel  or  iron-slag,  it 
forms  a  cheap  and  durable  pavement;  but 
very  hot  weather  softens  it  so  that  it  cannot 
very  well  be  used  for  streets.  There  is  a  sort 
of  black  or  brown  limestone  found  near  Bris- 
tol, and  in  Galway  and  Dalmatia,  so  full  of 
bitumen  that  it  is  soft  enough  to  be  cut  like 
soap.  In  Dalmatia  this  stone  is  used  for 
building,  and,  when  the  walls  are  reared,  fire 
is  applied  to  them,  and  they  burn  white. 

Coal-tar  is  a  product  of  the  distillation  of 
gas-coal  in  the  retorts  of  gas-houses.  The  re- 
siduum is  coke,  which  is  also  produced  in 
stacks  and  ovens  for  the  purpose  of  being 
used  in  iron-furnaces,  because  the  uncoked 
fat  coal  cakes  and  stops  the  draught.  Coke 
weighs  only  one-half  as  much  as  the  coal  out 
of  which  it  is  made.  It  is  a  porous,  lava-like, 


MINERAL  TALLOW.  81 

shining,  ringing,  brittle  substance,  somewhat 
resembling  pumice-stone,  but  making  an  in- 
tense heat  when  burned. 

Mineral  tallow  is  scarcely  soft  enough  to 
be  made  into  candles,  though  it  looks  white 
and  feels  greasy.  That  and  elastic  bitumen, 
or  mineral  caoutchouc,  are  both  varieties  of 
bitumen, — greatly  resembling  the  substances 
whose  names  they  bear.  There  is  also  a  ma- 
terial found  in  the  iron-mines  of  Merthyr- 
Tydvil,  in  South  Wales,  of  a  soft,  whitish  or 
greenish  hue,  looking  something  like  sperma- 
ceti, or  bees '-wax,  from  which  oil  can  be  dis- 
tilled at  a  low  heat,  leaving  behind  a  coaly 
matter.  It  is  wonderful  that  from  so  black 
a  substance  as  cannel-coal  and  carbonaceous 
shale  there  is  obtained,  by  simple  distillation, 
a  pure,  white  brilliant  substance  called  paraf- 
fine,  much  used  now  for  candles  in  the  place 
of  spermaceti,  especially  when  hardened  with 
a  little  arsenic. 

Mellite,  or  honey-stone,  so  named  from  its 
colour  and  consistency,  is  another  mineral,  oc- 
curring at  Thuringia,  in  Saxony,  and  in  Swit- 
zerland, on  bituminous  wood  and  earthy  coal, 
which  has  so  many  similar  characteristics  as 
to  place  it  among  combustible  substances.  In 

F 


82  COAL    AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

the  blue  clay  of  which  Highgate  Hill,  in  Eng- 
land, consists,  small  lumps  of  fossil  gum  copal 
are  often  found,  and  so  like  the  copal  gum  of 
American  trees  now  growing  that  it  is  called 
Highgate  resin;  and  there  can  be  no  doubt, 
from  its  mode  of  burning,  that  it  is  of  vege- 
table origin. 

Edward  here  expressed  wonder  as  to  what 
different  vegetables  would  come  to,  if  they 
were  left  to  themselves. 

Mr.  Goodman  answered  that  the  peat  moss 
of  Ireland  would  help  to  satisfy  this  curiosity, 
as  it  can  be  found  in  all  stages  between  its 
early  green  growth  and  the  black  substance 
used  for  fuel.  Peat  is  not  known  to  occur  in 
tropical  regions,  where  vegetation  decays  too 
rapidly  for  its  production.  Bog-wood  carries 
us  another  step  on  towards  the  coal-measures, 
its  condition  is  so  evidently  a  medium  between 
vegetable  wood  and  mineral  coal. 

"  Uncle  Joe,  "said  Alice,  "when  he  came  back 
from  Ireland,  brought  some  bog-wood  with  him; 
but  it  was  not  hard  enough  for  the  wall  of  our 
grotto :  so  Edward  put  it  into  the  table-drawer 
with  the  crumbling  things."  So  saying,  she 
produced  two  or  three  varieties. 

But   bog-wood,   said  her   father,   exhibits 


BOG-WOOD.  83 

various  degrees  of  hardness  as  well  as  of  black- 
ness. Some  specimens  will  bear  carving  into 
brooches  and  boxes,  and  are  as  black  as  coal ; 
but  all  have  the  lightness  of  wood,  and  are 
liable  to  split  in  the  same  manner.  It  seems 
to  have  been  produced  by  the  slow  burning 
action  of  the  oxygen  of  the  water  in  the  bog 
where  it  is  found, — a  process  well  known  to 
chemists,  and  called  eremacausis.  The  Ca- 
tholic inhabitants  of  Ireland  make  fragrant 
rosaries  of  bog-wood,  and,  when  they  are 
blessed  by  the  Pope,  they  are  highly  prized 
by  their  superstitious  owners,  and  are  sent 
to  all  parts  of  the  world  as  the  most  valuable 
presents. 

Edward  said  that  it  would  be  interesting  to 
find  coal-mines  where  the  coals  did  not  seem 
yet  completely  formed. 

Mr.  Goodman  said,  laughingly,  that  they 
could  hardly  be  called  coal-mines  till  their 
contents  were  fully  formed ;  but,  in  fact,  the 
later  coal-formations,  called  tertiary,  exhibited 
the  coal  in  the  state  of  lignite,  which  is  really 
a  half-way  condition  between  modern  wood 
and  the  compacted  coal  of  the  secondary  and 
primary  formations.  Moreover,  ancient  trees 
are  seen  in  the  rocks;  and  on  the  west  coast 


84  COAL   AND    COMBUSTIBLES. 

of  France,  near  Morlaix  and  Quimper,  there 
are  whole  modern  forests  now  standing  under 
water,  so  that  their  condition  can  be  easily 
examined  and  any  changes  watched.  In  a 
report*  from  these  districts,  dated  1856,  on 
this  very  subject,  the  writer, .  Monsieur  Du- 
^rocher,  stated  that  between  Redon  and  Renai, 
places  which  can  readily  be  found  on  the 
map,  a  marsh  still  exists,  which  is  covered 
with  water  at  high  tides,  but  at  low  water 
the  peasants  procure  large  quantities  of 
wood  from  it  for  their  fires.  At  St.  Nazaire, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Loire,  trunks  of 
trees  are  still  visible,  in  serried  ranks;  a  re- 
markable fact,  for  the  whole  of  that  coast  is 
now  for  the  most  part  destitute  of  trees.  M. 
Durocher  considers  that  they  were  over- 
whelmed within  a  comparatively  recent  period 
by  the  encroachments  of  the  sea.  Documents 
exist  proving  that  the  destruction  of  the 
forests  on  the  St.  Malo  coast  took  place  be- 
tween the  eighth  and  twelfth  centuries.  That 
of  Dol,  near  Mount  St.  Michael,  is  principally 
composed  of  oaks,  which  have  become  quite 
black  and  extremely  hard.  The  neighbour- 

*  See  "Athenaeum,"  Dec.  27, 1856. 


FOSSIL    TEEES.  85 

ing  peasants  have  long  used  this  wood  for 
carving,  as  it  is  capable  of  receiving  a  very 
high  polish.  They  call  it  "  coeron,"  a  word 
derived  from  the  Celtic  language.  In  Den- 
mark there  are  deep  wells,  sunk  through  suc- 
cessive layers  of  rocks  and  submerged  peat- 
bogs, with  overthrown  trunks  of  trees  in  such 
a  state  of  preservation  that  they  are  quarried 
out  and  used  for  building  and  burning.  What 
is  most  remarkable  is  the  fact  that  each  layer 
or  bed  of  peat  contains  trunks  of  trees  of 
a  different  kind,  one  having  been  an  oak 
forest,  another  a  beech,  another  a  pine,  and 
so  on.  Mr.  Lesquereux,  who  studied  all  the 
bogs  of  Europe,  has  shown  that  the  American 
coal-beds  were  made  from  such  Great  Dismal 
Swamps  as  now  exist  along  the  coasts  of  Vir- 
ginia and  the  Carolinas.  And  Mr.  Lyell  and 
Mr.  Dawson  have  described  the  ancient  forests 
standing  in  the  rocks  of  Nova  Scotia,  with 
their  roots  buried  in  the  ancient  coal-beds  of 
that  country.  Similar  forests  are  seen  in  all 
the  coal-regions  of  the  world. 

In  Parkfield  Colliery,  near  Wolverhampton, 
there  was  a  fossil  forest  so  thickly  studded 
that  seventy-three  stumps  of  trees  were  counted 
on  a  quarter  of  an  acre.  Here  is  a  plan  of  the 


86  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 


Ground-plan  of  a  fossil  forest,  Parkfield  Colliery,  near  Wolverhampton, 
showing  the  position  of  73  trees  in  a  quarter  of  an  acre. 

spot.  All  the  trees  have  been  removed  to 
different  geological  collections,  and  may  be 
examined  by  the  curious  student  of  nature. 
This  fossil  forest  was  discovered  where  the 
loose  rubbish  is  seen  lying  in  the  foreground 
of  the  following  sketch, — which  shows  what 
is  rarely  to  be  met  with  now  in  England; 
that  is,  coal  and  ironstone  beds  lying  so  near 
the  surface  of  the  ground  as  to  be  excavated 
in  the  open  light  of  day,  in  the  same  way  as  a 
railway-cutting ;  for  in  that  country  most  of 
the  beds  lie  so  deep  under  ground  that  wells 
have  to  be  sunk  to  reach  them,  sometimes 


FOSSIL   FOREST.  87 

hundreds  of  yards  in  depth,  at  the  mouths  of 
which  steam-engines,  pumps  for  raising  water, 
fans  for  blowing  down  air  into  the  galleries, 
and  machinery  for  hoisting  the  baskets  or  car- 
loads of  coal  to  the  surface,  are  placed  at 
great  expense.  Sliding  stages  are  also  made 
to  ascend  and  descend  the  sides  of  these  well- 
shafts,  on  which  the  miners  go  up  or  down 
with  speed  and  safety,  instead  of  climbing 
dangerous,  long,  steep  ladders,  or  being  let  up 
and  down  in  baskets  at  the  end  of  ropes,  as  in 
old  times.  Mining  is  much  safer  and  cheaper 
now  than  it  used  to  be. 

The  lowest  bed  of  coal  adjoining  the  little 
tram-road  in  the  sketch  above  is  eleven  feet 
thick,  and  is  known  as  the  bottom-coal.  Al- 
though here  only  about  seven  or  eight  yards 
below  the  surface,  at  another  part  of  the  col- 
liery this  bed  is  one  hundred  and  fifty  yards 
deep.  Above  the  coal  on  the  left-hand  side, 
shown  by  the  streaky  lines,  lies  the  white  clay 
ironstone,  in  beds  varying  from  two  to  six 
inches  in  thickness,  and  at  this  point  eleven 
or  twelve  in  number.  The  measures,  lying  all 
so  regularly  on  the  left-hand  side  of  the  sketch, 
are  brought  to  a  sudden  termination  by  the 
slip  or  fault  shown  in  the  middle,  the  whole 


88  COAL   AND    COMBUSTIBLES. 

being   thus   thrown   down   twenty  or  thirty 
yards. 

Such  an  open  cut,  but  on  a  much  grander 
scale,  was  one  of  the  first  coal-mines  opened 
in  America, — the  Summit  Mine,  at  Mauch 
Chunk,  where  various  layers  of  coal  lie  hori- 
zontally so  close  together  that  the  whole 
makes  up  a  thickness  of  sixty  feet.  At  first 
people  thought  that  the  whole  mountain  was 
a  solid  mass  of  coal ;  but  by-and-by,  after  they 
had  opened  a  vast  quarry,  in  steps  all  round, 
like  an  ancient  Eoman  amphitheatre,  they 
came  to  the  bottom,  and  then  discovered  that 
this  group  of  coal-beds  rolls  over  and  down 
both  sides  of  the  mountain.  Many  hundred 
thousand  tons  a  year  are  taken  out  of  these 
mines,  which  present  a  grand  appearance.  In 
other  parts  of  the  anthracite-coal  region  the 
gangways  are  driven  in  at  the  edges  of  streams, 
and  little  railroads  branch  off  into  them 
from  the  main  railroads  coming  up  from  the 
cities.  Inside,  there  are  rooms  or  breasts, 
rising  with  the  coal  from  the  level  gangway 
to  the  outcrop  at  the  summits  or  on  the  high 
hill-sides;  and  the  coal,  as  it  is  mined,  is  al- 
lowed to  slide  down  these  breasts  or  shoots  to 
where  the  cars  stand  ready  in  the  gangway  to 


COAL-!  EDS.  89 

receive  it.  In  other  parts  of  the  region  the 
mining  is  done  on  the  English  plan,  by  deep 
shafts,  or  more  frequently  by  slopes  at  various 
angles,  with  great  s  team-engines  at  the  mouth, 
letting  down  cars  upon  inclined  railroads  to 
the  gangways  at  the  bottom. 

The  different  coal-beds  are  distinguished 
from  each  other  by  characteristic  qualities : 
one  is  harder,  and  another  softer ;  one  is  divided 
into  several  layers,  and  another  is  more  solid; 
one  has  an  abundance  of  sulphur  and  iron  in 
it,  and  another  is  quite  free  from  these  inju- 
rious substances ;  one  has  a  straight  fracture, 
and  another  yields  coal  which  looks  gnarled 
and  curly  when  broken  to  pieces ;  one  will 
have  many  leaves  and  stems  of  certain  kinds 
of  plants,  and  another  will  show  very  few,  or 
leaves  and  stems  of  quite  another  sort.  In 
this  way  a  bed  is  traced  from  one  mining 
property  to  another. 

The  vegetables  which  are  found  in  ancient 
coal-beds  are  of  various  species,  none  of  which 
now  live  upon  this  planet.  Some  are  like 
the  horse-tail  plants  of  the  present  day.  In 
the  following  cut  (No.  1)  is  seen  a  stem  with 
two  sheaths  and  a  bud. 

8* 


90 


COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 


EQUISETUM  LTELLH.  CALAMITES  APPROXIMATUS. 

Wealden.    Ponceford.    natural  size. 

¥ig.  1. — A  stem,  having  two  sheaths,  and  a  bud  at  the  lowermost  joint. 
2. — Stem,  with  remains  of  roots. — %  not. 

3. — CALAMITES  APPROXIMATUS,  showing  the  curved  lower  end  of  the 
plant.f — %  not. 

Others  belong  to  the  order  of  ferns,  and  are 
named  commonly  from  the  number  of  the 
nerves  upon  their  leaves,  or  the  shape  of  their 
teeth-like  edges. 

Others  are  the  remains  of  gigantic  trees, 
with  extensive  roots  stretching  out  in  all  direc- 
tions, covered  with  rootlets,  which  fill  the 
"  under  clay"  of  every  coal-bed.  The  bark  of 
these  tree-stems  turned  into  coal  or  cast  in 


FIG.  1.— PKCOPTERIS  MCRRAYANA  ;  a  pinnule  with  the  fructification;  mag- 
nified.   Inf.  Oolite,  Scarborough. 
2. — PECOPTERIS  LONCHITICA.     Coal-shale,  France. 

LONCHOPTEKIS   MANTELLI. 

Wealdtn,  Tilgate  Forest. 

Fia.  1  and  2.— Leaflets  magnified,  to  show  the  reticulated  venation. 
3  — A  fragment  of  a  frond  ;  nat. 

Opp.  p.  90. 


SriGMARiA  PICOIDES. — Carboniferous.    Derbyshire. — %  not. 

Fio.  1. — Portion  of  a  stem,  with  some  of  the  rootlets  (formerly  con- 
sidered as  leaves)  extending  into  the  surrounding  clay. 
The  internal  axis  is  seen  at  a ;  and  the  corresponding 
groove  on  the  portion  of  external  surface  that  remains. 
2. — An  outline  of  one  of  the  rootlets,  with  a  tubercle  to  show  the 
mode  of  its  attachment  by  a  ball  and  socket  joint  to  the  root. 


ERECT  STEM  OF  A  SIGILLARTA,  WITH  ROOTS. 

Coal  Mine,  near  Liverpool. 

a.  The  trunk  of  the  tree,  traversing  a  bed  of  Coal. 
It.  The  roots  (Stigmarice)  spreading  out  in  the  Under-clay. 

Opp.  p.  91. 


FOSSILS.  91 

stone  moulds  is  commonly  seen  in  the  rocks 
which  overlie  the  coal-beds. 

Sometimes  the  fruit  is  found,  as  if  it  had 
been  shaken  down  by  the  earthquake-con- 
vulsions which  buried  up  the  trees. 

Among  the  most  common  of  all  the  fossils 
of  the  coal  is  a  star-shaped  flower-like  plant, 
called  therefore  the  aster ophyllites,  of  which 
the  following  is  a  picture : — 


ASTEROPHYLLITES  EQUISETIFORMIS : 

Coal-shale.    (Foss  Flor.) 


92  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

Palm-trees,  or  something  like  them,  called 
Zamias  and  Cycades,  with  short  stems  and 
a  plumy  head  of  long  and  graceful  leaves, 
grew  in  the  ancient  days  of  the  secondary 
coal. 


FOLIAGE  AND  UPPER  PART  OF  THE  STEM  OF  CTCAS  REVOLUTA.    ^  noi. 
In  Kew  Conservatory. 

The  fir  and  pine  tribe  was  also  represented, 
and  much  of  the  bituminous  character  of  some 
coal-beds  is  thought  to  be  due  to  the  resinous 
nature  of  this  family  of  trees.  Amber  exuded 
from  the  bark ;  and  when  the  coal  is  studied 
with  a  microscope,  small  yellow  spots  are  seen 
scattered  through  it,  which  seem  to  be  the 
amber  substance  in  the  solid  wood  :  from  this, 
no  doubt,  comes  the  principal  part  of  the  gas 
we  get  from  coal. 


COAL   IN   CHINA.  93 

It  seems  generally  agreed  by  the  learned 
that  the  first  mention  of  coal,  as  we  under- 
stand that  name,  occurs  about  two  thousand 
years  ago,  in  the  writings  of  Theophrastus, 
a  pupil  of  Aristotle.  He  devoted  the  long 
period  of  one  hundred  and  six  years  to  scien- 
tific inquiry,  and  died  lamenting  that  the 
shortness  of  life  prevented  any  great  attain- 
ments. About  twenty  of  his  works  have  been 
preserved ;  and  in  his  book  on  stones  he  re- 
marks, "  Those  fossil  substances  called  coals, 
and  broken  for  use,  are  earthy.  They  kindle, 
however,  and  burn  like  wood-coal.  They  are 
found  in  Liguria,  where  there  is  also  amber 
and  ore  used  by  smiths."  Liguria  was  the 
ancient  name  for  that  part  of  Italy  of  which 
Leghorn  and  Genoa  are  now  the  principal 
towns. 

Coal  seems  to  have  been  known  to  the 
Chinese  before  it  was  known  in  Europe ;  for 
the  earliest  traveller  to  that  country  whose 
journal  we  possess  reported  that  that  inge- 
nious people  "  burnt  a  black  stone  which  was 
as  good  fuel  as  wood."  Their  borings  are 
done  with  a  rope,  and  their  mines  are  some 
of  them  deep. 

The   Bible   mentions   coals  of   fire   earlier 


94  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

than  Theophrastus;  for  they  are  spoken  of  by 
the  prophets,  and  even  in  the  time  of  Moses ; 
but  at  that  period  the  word  was  used  to 
signify  any  sort  of  fuel.  The  Saxon  word 
col,  the  German  kohl  and  the  Danish  kul  are 
all  names  in  those  languages  for  mineral  coalt 
which  seems  to  have  been  an  old  British 
word,  now  represented  in  Irish  by  the  word 
guel,  and  in  the  Cornish  dialect  by  kolon  to 
this  day.  Indeed,  some  antiquaries  zeal- 
ously contend  that  a  flint  axe  found  stuck  in 
a  vein  of  coal  in  Monmouthshire  proves  that 
the  early  natives  of  England  were  acquainted 
with  this  useful  substance.  But  one  would 
think  that,  if  the  early  Britons  had  been 
acquainted  with  mineral  coal,  it  would  have 
continued  in  use :  therefore,  the  fact  that  it 
has  not,  must  be  considered  a  serious  objec- 
tion to  the  supposition.  Charters  still  exist, 
showing  that  coal  was  known  and  used  in 
England  during  the  ninth  and  tenth  centu- 
ries,— although  the  Newcastle  pits  were  not 
taken  under  royal  protection  till  1239.  In 
1245,  we  find  a  regular  system  of  collieries 
and  coal-vessels  arranged  for  the  conveyance 
of  "  sea-coal/'  as  it  was  long  called,  because  it 
was  taken  by  sea  along  the  coasts  to  London 


COAL   IN   ENGLAND.  95 

and  other  ports.  But  at  that  period  it  was 
not  plentiful  in  London;  for  in  1306  King 
Edward  I.  forbade,  by  proclamation  the 
burning  of  coal  in  the  city,  on  account  of 
its  sulphurous  smoke  and  smell.  As  wood 
became  scarce  in  England  from  neglect  of 
planting  new  forests,  mineral  coal  gradually 
came  into  use ;  yet,  as  late  as  1600,  Stowe 
relates  that  "  the  nice  dames  of  London  would 
not  come  into  any  house  or  room  where  sea- 
coals  were  burned,  nor  willingly  eat  of  the 
meat  that  was  either  sod  or  roasted  with  sea- 
coal  fires."  It  has  not  been  long  ago  that 
many  of  the  French  had  so  great  a  prejudice 
against  the  use  of  coals  that  landlords  ejected 
tenants  for  using  them,  and  drawing-rooms 
were  almost  emptied  of  guests  when  warmed 
with  a  coal-fire.  In  America,  where  we  burn 
anthracite  coal  chiefly,  all  this  sounds  strange 
enough;  but  a  visit  to  Pittsburg,  where  the 
bituminous  coal  is  altogether  used,  will  rea- 
dily explain  it.  By-and-by  coals  found  their 
way  into  the  palace  of  royalty ;  and  so  large 
a  tax  was  raised  from  coals  imported  into 
London  that  it  aided  considerably  in  the 
rebuilding  St.  Paul's  Cathedral  and  the  fifty- 
two  parish  churches  destroyed  by  the  great 


96  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

fire  of  1666.     The  British  coal-trade  has  now 
reached  thirty  millions  of  tons. 

Coals  with  seventy  different  names  are  in 
the  English  markets, — names  derived  from 
the  localities  whence  they  are  procured,  as 
Wallsend,  Newcastle,  Welsh,  &c. ;  but  many 
of  these  are  so  much  alike  that  the  coal-mer- 
chants themselves  find  it  difficult  to  state 
a  difference  between  them.  The  American 
market  is  quite  as  full  of  names,  such  as 
Diamond,  Peach  Orchard,  Buck  Mountain, 
Lykin's  Valley,  Lehigh,  Cumberland,  Broad- 
top,  Alleghany,  Westmoreland,  Blossburg, 
&c.  &c.  Many  01  these  are  the  names  of  coal- 
regions  or  single  basins ;  and  many  others  are 
the  names  of  single  mines  or  beds  of  coal. 
The  geologist  recognises  only  three  great 
kinds, — bituminous,  semi-bituminous  and  an- 
thracite. The  English  geologist  has  sub- 
divided these  into  fourteen  sorts  of  coal, 
according  as  some  yield  white  and  others  red 
or  black  ashes ;  some  burn  quickly,  and  others 
slowly;  some  produce  much  smoke,  and  others 
little ;  some  cake  together  as  they  burn,  and 
others  crumble  into  fine  pieces.  All  have  dis- 
tinct values  for  these  different  qualities,  accord- 
ing to  the  kind  of  use  to  be  made  of  them. 


ANTHEACITE.  97 

The  principal  varieties  of  bituminous  coal 
are  the  caking,  cubic,  splint  and  cannel  coals, — 
all  very  bituminous,  yielding  smoke  and  gas. 

Anthracite,  or  "  blind  coal,"  is  not  bitumi- 
nous, and  does  not  smoke  or  soil  the  fingers. 
It  is  a  natural  coke,  found  in  South  Wales, 
in  Belgium  and  in  Eastern  Pennsylvania  so 
plentifully  that  whole  cities  use  it  and  are 
entirely  free  from  smoke, — which  is  a  great 
advantage ;  for  in  London,  Liverpool,  Pitts- 
burg  and  other  cities  which  use  bituminous 
or  smoking  coals,  the  new  buildings  soon 
become  dark  and  dingy  with  soot.  The  an- 
thracite coal-beds  were  originally,  however, 
as  bituminous  as  the  rest,  and  in  fact  can  be 
traced  along  so  as  to  be  proved  to  be  the  very 
same  deposits.  How  the  bitumen  or  oily  and 
gaseous  parts  have  been  separated  and  driven 
off,  so  as  to  leave  hard,  crystalline  anthracite, 
it  would  be  hard  to  tell.  The  effect  has  been 
produced  in  Wales  by  the  intrusion  of  trap 
dikes  or  ancient  lava  currents ;  but  nothing 
of  that  kind  is  visible  in  the  anthracite 
regions  of  America.  It  is  possible  that  warm 
gases  or  steam  from  below  have  penetrated 
the  cracked  crust  of  the  earth  and  turned  the 
bituminous  coal-beds  into  anthracite;  and  this 

Q  9 


98  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

is  the  more  probable,  seeing  that  the  bitumi- 
nous coal-beds  lie  very  flat  and  undisturbed, 
whereas  the  anthracite  coal-beds  are  tossed 
and  crumpled,  and  even  sometimes  turned 
quite  over  on  their  backs,  forming  long, 
pointed,  narrow  troughs  or  basins,  with 
wrinkled  sides  ;  while  the  rocks  which  enclose 
the  coal-beds  are  baked  as  if  by  heat  and 
broken  into  millions  of  fragments  b)  the 
movements  to  which  they  have  been  sub- 
jected :  so  that  it  would  have  been  an  easy 
thing  for  hot  vapours  from  below  to  find 
their  way  to  the  surface  through  innumerable 
cracks.  It  is  a  curious  fact  that  at  the 
eastern  end  of  all  the  anthracite  basins  the 
coal  is  hardest  and  heaviest  of  all ;  while  at 
the  western  ends  of  the  same  basins  it  con- 
tains from  ten  to  fourteen  per  cent,  of  volatile 
matter.  Going  still  farther  west,  to  Broad 
Top,  Cumberland  and  the  Alleghany  Moun- 
tains, we  find  the  semi-bituminous  coal-beds 
containing  from  fifteen  to  twenty  per  cent. ; 
while  the  Ohio  River  coals  contain  from 
thirty-five  to  fifty  per  cent.  In  Arkansas, 
the  anthracite  coal  appears  again;  but  in 
California  and  Central  America  all  the  coal 
yet  discovered  belongs  to  the  tertiary  forma- 


COAL  IN   GERMANY.  99 

tion,  and  is  very  soft  and  smoky  and  full  of 
ashes.  Such,  also,  is  the  coal  of  Texas  and 
of  the  head- waters  of  the  Missouri  and  Judith 
Rivers.  The  age  of  the  Richmond,  Dan  River 
and  Deep  River  coal-basins,  in  Eastern  Vir- 
ginia and  North  Carolina,  is  midway  between 
the  old  coal-measures  of  Pennsylvania  and  the 
West  and  these  modern  tertiary  coal-mea- 
sures of  the  Pacific  coast. 

In  Germany  there  is  a  kind  of  soft,  earthy 
"  brown  coal"  much  in  use,  which  is  made  into 
bricks  and  fed  into  great  china-ware  stoves 
with  hinged  tin  gloves.  It  is  a  dirty,  crumbly 
fuel,  but  the  best  the  poor  people  can  get. 
In  Wales  there  is  a  variety  called  by  the  cot- 
tagers stone-coal.  It  is  found  generally  in  very 
small  pieces,  which  are  mixed  with  clay  into 
"  coal  balls."  They  are  difficult  to  light  at 
first,  but,  when  once  ignited,  will  burn  so  long, 
and  so  slowly,  that  the  fire  is  not  extinguished 
for  years.  The  good  housewives  vie  with  each 
other  in  the  taste  with  which  these  balls  are 
piled  into  the  grate,  at  the  top  of  the  fire,  to 
supply  the  destruction  below.  It  is  considered 
quite  a  calamity  if  the  fire  goes  out.  There 
was  a  company  once  formed  in  New  York  to 
mix  the  broken  and  fine  refuse  coal  of  Potts- 


100  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

ville  and  Mauch  Chunk  with  clay,  to  make  into 
similar  bricks  or  balls  for  the  Philadelphia 
market ;  but  it  was  found  to  be  too  costly  at 
the  present  price  of  coal.  Hills  of  this  refuse 
coal  are  annually  washed  down  the  rivers  by 
the  rains  into  the  sea.  At  some  future  day  so 
great  a  waste  will  be  prevented.  The  coal 
comes  out  of  the  mine  in  great  lumps,  and  is 
crushed  between  iron  rollers  set  with  teeth, 
and  shot  down  long  inclined  planes  into  the 
cars,  which  take  it  to  the  cities.  In  England, 
great  cranes  let  down  the  cars,  full  of  soft 
coal  which  will  not  bear  much  handling,  into 
the  holds  of  vessels  lying  far  below. 

That  coal  has  been  so  long  made  ready  in 
the  earth  for  men  to  use  it,  we  may  regard 
as  an  eminent  and  admirable  result  of  the 
Creator's  wise  use  of  the  past  and  seemingly 
useless  exuberance  of  vegetable  nature;  for 
thus  the  decay  of  the  earth's  ancient  beauty 
is  made  subservient  to  the  comfort  and  pros- 
perity of  the  future  generations  of  its  inhabi- 
tants. Moreover,  nothing  is  more  remarkable 
than  this  "  gathering  up  of  fragments,  that 
nothing  be  lost,"  to  be  observed  in  all  God's 
works;  and  so  strikingly  is  this  perceived 
in  every  deeper  discovery  of  scientific  truth 


LESSONS.  101 

that  men  of  science  are  prepared  to  assert 
that  no  new  matter  has  been  added  to  our 
world,  but  that  the  whole  record  of  natural 
history  is  simply  the  history  of  oh.a.nges,  won- 
derful and  varied,  and  perhaps;  still  inex-' 
haustible. 

"Well,  now,"  said  Edward,  "vlien  I  look 
at  the  spring  buds  and  blossoms,  I  like  to 
think  they  are  all  God's  new  work  just  fin- 
ished :  as  David  says,  '  Thou  renewest  the 
face  of  the  earth/  ' 

"You  may  enjoy  that  pleasure  still,  my 
boy,"  said  his  father;  "for  are  not  the  skill 
and  benevolence  of  our  heavenly  Father  more 
wonderful  still,  when  new  and  beautiful  fruits 
and  flowers  are  created  from  the  old  soil  and 
gases,  so  disagreeable  to  our  senses?" 

"  Oh,  yes ;  but  I  should  like  to  find  out 
something  really  fresh  created,' — actually  lately 
formed  by  God." 

"  We  must  leave  the  world  of  matter,  then, 
my  dear  Edward,  and  use  the  eyes  of  our 
minds ;  and  then  we  may  discern  that  every 
infant  possesses  a  newly-created  spirit, — one 
sent  into  this  world  to  be  educated  and  trained 
for  immortality  through  the  redemption  by 

Jesus  Christ.     Thus,  infancy  and   childhood 
9* 


102  COAL   AND   COMBUSTIBLES. 

in  a  family  are  a  precious  trust.  How  care- 
ful we  should  all  be  of  the  lessons  we  teach 
their  new  souls,  which,  though  only  now  com- 
mencing their  existence,  are  nevertheless  des- 
tined to'-  live  ••<  forever  either  in  happiness  or 


PECOPTERIS  SILLIMAXI  ;  nat.    Coal  Shale.  Ohio 

a.  The  Stern. 

b.  Leaf-stalk,  or  petiole. 

c.  Leaf,  or  frond,  which  is  bipinnate. 

d.  «    Leaflets,  or  pinnae;  the  upper,  d,  are  entire;  the  lower,  e.  are  pinnatifid 
/.  The  pinnules,  lobes,  or  segments. 
y.  The  midrib,  or  median  vein. 

/».  The  veins     The  veins  are  introduced  in  the  leaflets,  d;  but  in  the  lower 
ones,  <?,  the  midribs  only  are  marked. 


INrEUROPTEKi.-5  ACUMINATA;  nat. 

In  Coal-shale,  Yorkshire. 
See  page  80. 


SPHENOPTERIS  MANTELLI  ;  nat. 
Wealdcn,  TUqate  Forest. 

Orm    n    "[09. 


PLANS.  103 


OHAPTEE  IV. 

CLAY   AND    SLATE. 

IT  was  summer-time,  and  the  weather  so 
unusually  hot  that  Edward  and  Alice  spent 
most  of  their  leisure  hours  in  their  favourite 
grotto, — more  attractive  than  ever  now,  from 
the  knowledge  they  were  acquiring  of  the 
materials  of  which  it  was  constructed.  Like 
most  active  young  people,  they  were  continu- 
ally devising  and  attempting  new  improve- 
ments ;  and  the  sultry  weather  suggested  the 
delights  of  a  cooling  fountain,  which,  after 
some  surveying  and  planning,  Edward  under- 
took to  contrive. 

There  was  a  mill-dam  not  far  off:  so  a  few 
yards  of  gutta-percha  tubing  sufficed  to  bring 
water  to  his  basin,  or,  as  he  chose  to  call  it,  his 
reservoir,  which  he  dug  with  mathematical  pre- 
cision in  the  centre  of  a  small  .grass-plat,  and 
lined  neatly  with  clay,  ornamented  also  with 
little  pebbles  stuck  in  regular  patterns.  The 


104  CLAY  AND    SLATE. 

tubing  was  brought  up  amidst  some  rock-work 
in  the  middle,  and  furnished  with  a  tap.  Soon, 
therefore,  a  small  jet  of  brilliant  drops  sparkled 
in  the  sunshine,  adding  their  pleasant  melody 
to  the  sweet  song  of  birds,  which,  to  Alice's  great 
admiration,  speedily  learned  to  slake  their  thirst 
in  the  tiny  pond.  The  young  engineer  beheld 
it  with  triumph;  and,  an  artist  having  lately 
modelled  a  bust  of  his  grandfather,  Edward 
was  seized  with  an  ambition  to  try  that  art 
and  decorate  his  fountain  with  figures  and 
statues.  He  tempered  his  clay,  and  kneaded 
and  modelled,  first,  a  head  of  Minerva,  the 
fabulous  goddess  of  wisdom,  which,  however, 
looked  unmeaning  without  any  body ;  and  that 
failed.  Smaller  figures  were  more  successful ; 
but  the  rain  spoiled  them.  Alice  suggested 
baking,  after  the  fashion  of  potters ;  and  forth- 
with his  mother  found  her  oven  full  of  gro- 
tesque-looking objects,  which  puzzled  her  not 
a  little,  till  Edward  explained  which  was  a 
lion  and  which  was  a  man.  After  all,  how- 
ever, they  were  deemed  unworthy  of  a  place 
in  the  grotto  ;  and  Mrs.  Goodman  made  them 
a  present  of  a  few  objects  in  biscuit- ware, 
which,  after  their  numerous  disappointments, 
were  thankfully  accepted. 


CLAY.  105 

The  scheme  had  not  been  without  benefit, 
however;  for  it  had  discovered  to  the  young 
people  the  very  various  appearances  and  quali- 
ties of  the  clay  they  had  worked  with. 

"  How  pretty  this  biscuit- ware  is,  father!" 
said  Edward,  when  exhibiting  his  improve- 
ments to  Mr.  Goodman-.  "  I  wish  I  could  find 
some  of  the  clay  it  is  made  of." 

Mr.  Goodman  replied  that  such  a  material 
as  that  is  never  found :  it  undergoes  a  vast 
deal  of  purification,  or  is  mixed  with  other 
substances  to  give  it  its  delicacy.  CLAY  is  a 
mineral  substance,  opaque  and  dull-looking, 
never  crystallizing, — often  soft  enough  to  be 
cut  or  scratched  by  iron,  though  sometimes  so 
hard  as  to  bear  powdering.  When  breathed 
on,  most  clay  yields  a  peculiar  smell,  termed 
argillaceous,  from  the  Latin  word  argilla, 
(clay;)  but  this  smell  generally  arises  from 
some  admixture  of  oxide  of  iron,  for  perfectly 
pure  clays  have  no  odour. 

Clay  is  spread  over  our  country  so  plenti- 
fully that  some  is  found  almost  everywhere ; 
and  it  is  of  red,  yellow,  blue  or  white  colour, 
according  to  the  substances  mixed  with  it. 
All  clays  become  plastic,  or  easily  moulded, 
and  tenacious,  by  nixing  with  water.  The 


106  CLAY   AND   SLATE. 

purer  varieties  may  be  known  by  their  stick- 
ing to  the  tongue  and  feeling  unctuous,  or 
greasy,  to  the  finger.  This  plastic  and  unc- 
tuous property  is  due  to  the  proportion  of 
alumina  mingling  with  the  clay :  indeed,  this 
alumina  used  to  be  called  argil,  as  being  ob- 
tained chiefly  from  the  argillaceous  or  clayey 
earths;  but  it  is  now  procured  in  larger  pro- 
portions from  alum.  Clays  become  so  hard- 
ened by  baking  that  they  will  strike  fire  with 
flint,  and  will  bear  an  amazing  degree  of  heat 
without  crumbling:  hence  fire-bricks  are  so 
serviceable.  The  fire-clay  of  Stourbridge  and 
Windsor  yields  large  square  slabs  for  sugar- 
boilers,  drying-kilns,  brewers'  coppers,  &c. 
The  white  clay-beds  beneath  coal-beds  fur- 
nish much  of  the  best  fire-brick  used  in  con- 
structing blast-furnaces  and  the  puddling-fur- 
naces  of  rolling-mills.  The  fire-clay  bricks 
of  New  York  and  Philadelphia  come  from  ex- 
tensive beds  of  clay  beneath  Amboy.  But 
the  common  building-bricks  of  the  cities  of  the 
seaboard  are  made  from  coarser  clays  dug  in 
their  neighbourhood.  Almost  all  the  great 
cities  of  the  world  are  built  on  clay  and  gravel 
beds  of  a  late  age.  The  colour  varies  in  dif- 
ferent cities  according  Jo  the  amount  of  iron 


CLAY-BEDS.  107 

which  happens  to  be  in  the  clay.  The  bricks 
of  Philadelphia  are  a  soft  deep  red ;  those  of 
New  York  and  Boston  are  of  a  paler,  yellow- 
ish tint,  and  are  commonly  painted, — which  is 
never  done  in  Philadelphia  until  a  house  is 
very  old.  -  In  old  times  the  bricks  which  were 
nearest  the  fire  in  the  kiln,  and  thus  burned 
black,  were  used  as  ornamental  in  the  walls. 
Some  of  these  old  houses  and  graveyard-walls 
still  exist,  and  present  a  peculiar  appearance. 
All  these  clay-beds  are  at  or  near  the  sur- 
face of  the  earth.  But  there  were  very  ancient 
clay-beds  which  have  been  turned  into  hard 
rock,  called  clay-slate ;  and  when  these  are 
crystallized  crosswise  and  split  into  planes 
they  form  slate-quarries,  which  furnish  the 
slates  for  roofs  and  for  writing-tables.  The 
slate-quarries  of  Tremadoc,  in  North  Wales, 
are  wonderful  excavations  made  in  the  tops  of 
mountains,  and  the  slates  are  let  down  by 
long  inclined  planes  and  railroads  to  the  sea. 
In  Pennsylvania  the  quarries  of  Slatington,  on 
the  Lehigh,  and  others  on  the  Delaware  and 
Hudson,  are  becoming  equally  celebrated. 
Similar  slate-quarries  occur  in  other  parts 
of  the  globe,  as  in  France  and  Germany. 
Where  there  are  no  slates,  shingles' of  cedar  or 


108  CLAY   AND   SLATE. 

cypress  are  used  for  roofs ;  but  when  timber  is 
scarce,  then  the  poor  people  must  use  straw  to 
thatch  their  dwellings. 

It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  the  most  use- 
ful minerals  are  generally  situated  so  as  to  be 
easily  obtained  by  the  industry  of  man.  Clay 
is  universally  spread  over  the  earth,  and  we 
find  it  used  in  all  countries,  and  from  the  most 
remote  ages,  for  very  various  purposes,  from 
the  "  bricks  thoroughly  burned/'  of  which  the 
tower  of  Babel  was  constructed,  (Gen.  xi.  3,) 
to  the  glazed  earthenware  coffins  found  in 
South  Babylonia,  specimens  of  which  are  now 
in'  the  British  Museum.  Cups,  plates,  in- 
scribed cylinders,  tablets,  water-jars,  bottles, 
dishes,  and  many  other  domestic  utensils,  were 
early  made  of  clay;  and  so  common  was  its 
use,  that  it  is  perpetually  employed  as  a  meta- 
phor in  the  Scriptures.  Were  the  Israelites 
rebellious  against  God,  the  prophet  was  in- 
structed to  threaten  that  their  princes  should 
be  trodden  down  as  the  potter  treadeth  clay. 
(Isa.  xli.  25.)  "Go  down  to  the  potter's 
house,"  said  Jehovah  to  his  servant  Jeremiah, 
"  and  there  will  I  cause  thee  to  hear  my 
words/'  (Jer.  xviii.  1-6.)  And  very  striking 
must  have  been  the  message,  for,  lo!  "he 


EASTERN  POTTER. 


Opp.  p.  109. 


CLAY  IN   ENGLAND.  109 

wrought  a -work  on  the  wheels.  And  the 
vessel  that  he  made  of  clay  was  marred  in  the 
hand  of  the  potter:  so  he  made  it  again 
another  vessel,  as  seemed  good  to  the  potter 
to  make  it.  Then  the  word  of  the  Lord  came 
to  me,  saying,  0  house  of  Israel,  cannot  I  do 
with  you  as  this  potter  ?  saith  the  Lord. 
Behold,  as  the  clay  is  in  the  potter's  hand,  so 
are  ye  in  mine  hand."  Little,  probably,  did 
the  potter  dream  of  the  honour  put  upon  him, 
as  he  wondered  at  the  prophet's  unwonted 
visit ;  but  if  he  understood,  as  doubtless  Jere- 
miah explained  the  matter,  how  must  his 
daily  occupation  have  henceforth  taught  him 
the  importance  of  right  preparation  and  right 
training  for  the  service  of  the  Lord,  if  he 
would  become  a  vessel  fit  for  the  Master's  use 
and  glory  in  eternity! 

Mr.  Goodman  went  on  to  remark  that  in 
England  clay  is  seen  being  made  into  bricks 
in  almost  every  locality,  with  very  simple 
establishments,  sometimes  with  scarcely  even 
a  shed;  and  whole  families  are  engaged, 
women  and  children  assisting  to  make  the 
most  of  their  little  patch  of  clay  ground. 

The  same  clay  does  not  make  both  bricks 

and  pottery,  for  brick  clay  is  often  coarse  and 
10 


110  CLAY   AND    SLATE. 

mixed  with  stone  and  fragments  of  rock, 
while  the  plastic  or  potter's  clay  must  always 
be  a  finer  material.  It  often  contains,  however, 
the  remains  of  shells,  the  teeth  of  fish,  and 
woody  fibres,  but  all  so  decomposed,  or  rotted 
down,  as  to  be  almost  indistinguishable.  All 
the  potter's  clays  can,  when  dry,  be  polished 
by  the  finger.  Ingenious  lads  often  amuse 
themselves  by  making  seals  and  stamps  of  this 
clay  and  engraving  and  polishing  them  easily ; 
and  they  will  gradually  become  very  hard  by 
exposure  to  the  sun  and  air.  When  made 
into  a  paste,  some  of  these  potter's  clays  are 
slightly  transparent ;  but  they  become  very 
hard,  and  cannot  be  melted  in  a  furnace. 
Some  of  them  become  white,  others  red,  in 
great  heat :  so  that  they  are  singularly  well 
adapted  for  cooking-utensils,  as  well  as  for 
cups  and  saucers,  and  other  domestic  articles. 
The  finest  china-ware  is  made  from  porcelain 
earth,  or  kaolin,  as  the  Chinese  call  it,  which 
results  from  the  decomposed  felspar  of  granite, 
and  varies  in  colour  from  the  purest  white  to 
yellow  or  red.  The  kaolin  of  Cornwall  is  so 
white  and  so  plentiful  that  for  miles  the 
ground  looks  as  if  covered  with  snow;  but 
the  Chinese  and  Japanese  kaolins  are  gene- 


PORCELAIN   CLAY.  Ill 

rally  whiter,  and  more  unctuous  to  the  touch, 
than  those  of  Europe.  In  Brandon,  Vermont, 
there  is  a  very  remarkable  quarry  of  kaolin,  a 
hundred  feet  deep,  alongside  of  a  quarry  of 
lignite  or  tertiary  coal  full  of  leaves  of  trees 
and  three-sided  fruits,  none  of  which  are  now 
known  to  grow  upon  the  earth.  Professor 
Hitchcock,  of  Amherst  College,  has  described 
more  than  twenty  varieties  of  these  fruits. 
This  coal  is  used  to  burn  the  kaolin  and  smelt 
the  iron-ore  which  is  also  found  in  this  singular 
deposit^  The  State  of  Delaware  also  furnishes 
large  quantities  of  kaolin;  and  the  manufac- 
ture of  fine  china  once  succeeded  very  well  in 
Philadelphia,  but  was  given  up  at  last,  owing 
to  the  competition  of  the  foreign  article.  In 
Europe  the  finest  china  is  now  made.  The 
royal  manufactory  at  Sevres,  near  Paris,  pro- 
duces ware  of  extraordinary  beauty  and  cost- 
liness. But  China  has  been  the  country  of 
clay-bakers  for  thousands  of  years ;  and  the 
porcelain  dishes,  vases  and  towers  of  china 
are  some  of  them  a  thousand  years  old  and 
preserved  with  religious  care.  It  is  all  made 
of  kaolin  or  the  finer  kinds  of  clay. 

This  kaolin  furnishes  our  tea-services ;  but 
it  undergoes  considerable  preparation,  by  boil- 


112  CLAY   AND   SLATE. 

ing,  washing,  stirring,  skimming  and  settling, 
and  has  generally  some  addition  of  ground 
flint,  and  such  things  as  experience  suggests 
for  beauty  or  for  strength.  Biscuit-ware 
ornaments  are  made  of  this  material,  with 
ivory-white  or  ground  bones  to  render  it 
opaque.  Brooches,  buttons,  mosaic  pavement 
and  some  artificial  gems  are  made  of  this  clay. 
Pipe- clay  is  very  similar  to  kaolin.  The  best 
is  quite  white,  and  is  found  near  Poole  and 
Purbeck,  in  Dorsetshire;  but  some  is  gray, 
some  black,  and  some  violet  colour.  Some  of 
the  white  clays  become  gray  in  a  low  heat, 
and  white  again  when  subjected  to  a  stronger 
heat. 

It  has  rather  puzzled  observers  to  discover 
the  cause  of  this  very  curious  effect;  and 
many  reasons  have  been  suggested.  The 
most  plausible  theory  is  that  the  natural 
softness  of  these  clays  was  owing  to  mine- 
ral oil,  which  burned,  in  low  temperature, 
to  coal,  and  thus  tinged  them  black,  while 
the  higher  degrees  of  heat  caused  it  to  fly 
off  in  vapour,  and  left  the  clay  white ;  for 
much  of  the  decomposed  animal  and  vege- 
table carbon  of  all  ages  remains  in  all  clays. 
This  pipe-clay  is  not  only  used,  as  its  name 


FULLER'S  EARTH.  113 

implies,  for  tobacco-pipes,  but  also  for  the 
cleaning  of  white  leather  used  in  soldiers' 
accoutrements  and  for  the  fulling  or  scouring 
of  woollen  cloths.  Indeed,  any  fine  clay  that 
does  not  stain  may  be  used  for  this  purpose. 
Its  cleansing  property  consists  in  its  quickly 
absorbing  all  the  oil  or  grease  which  it 
touches,  while  it  also  thickens  the  cloth  by 
causing  the  little  hairs  or  fibres  to  curl  up. 

Fuller's  earth  is  found  in  Surrey,  Hamp- 
shire and  Bedfordshire,  (England,)  and  is  of  a 
greenish-brown  colour.  It  was  formerly  deemed 
so  important  to  the  woollen  trade  that  its  ex- 
portation wras  prohibited ;  but  now  soap  has 
rather  superseded  it.  In  Sweden  the  clay 
we  term  "  fuller's  earth"  is  called  stone- 
marrow,  from  its  appearance;  and  in  Grim 
Tartary  it  is  used  instead  of  soap  for  wash- 
ing. Mothers  often  use  it  in  the  nursery; 
for  it  is  very  cleansing,  and  when  there  is 
any  unhealthy  secretion,  such  as  often  arises 
in  the  folds  of  infant  children's  skin,  it  is  use- 
ful in  absorbing  this  heating  moisture  and 
thus  giving  the  skin  time  to  recover  its 
proper  functions. 

This  mode  of  cleansing  cloth  is  called  full- 
ing, from  the  Latin  wor&fullo,  a  fuller  of  cloth; 
H  10* 


114  CLAY   AND   SLATE. 

and  this  property  of  clay  was  known  in  such 
very  early  times  that  "  the  fuller's  field"  is 
mentioned  as  a  conspicuous  spot  in  the  reign 
of  Hezekiah,  and  "  fuller's  soap"  is  used  by 
Malachi  as  an  illustration  to  explain  the 
purifying  influences  of  the  Redeemer's  les- 
sons. Mai.  iii.  2. 

Loam  is  an  impure  kind  of  potter's  clay, 
mixed  with  mica  and  iron-ochre,  and  is 
often  used  to  correct  the  dryness  of  land. 
Corn  grows  best  on  clayey  lands  :  so  that 
the  farmer  often  spreads  loam  as  a  manure. 
There  is  a  green  sand  in  New  Jersey,  Dela- 
ware, Maryland  and  Virginia,  which  lies  upon 
clay,  and  is  a  remarkable  manure  for  the 
barren,  sandy  lands  along  the  Atlantic  coasts, 
making  the  pine-forest  soil  as  fertile  as  a 
garden.  But,  when  spread  upon  the  soil  of 
the  hills  back  of  Trenton,  Philadelphia  and 
Baltimore,  it  is  of  no  value  whatever,  because 
its  fertilizing  quality  depends  upon  the  green 
potash  that  is  in  it,  and  these  hill-soils  come 
from  rocks  which  have  already  more  potash 
in  them  than  they  want.  They  want,  there- 
fore, not  green-sand  marl,  but  shell  marl, 
or  lime,  or  plaster  of  Paris,  or  phosphate 


SLATE.  115 

manures:      All   this   the   farmer  learns  who 
studies  agricultural  chemistry. 

All  clay  is  soft  in  its  earliest  natural  con- 
dition, but  it  becomes  hard  in  time,  even 
without  burning ;  for  the  ancient  cities  of 
Babylon  seem  to  have  been  built  entirely 
of  sun-dried  bricks,  which  are  remarkably 
hard  and  compact ;  but  the  slate  of  which  I 
spoke  as  forming  mountains  shows  how  hard 
clay  may  become  by  the  aid  of  time  and 
pressure,  moisture,  heat  and  the  forces  of 
crystallization.  "We  find  it  in  all  stages  of 
firmness,  from  the  slate-clay,  which  is  found 
in  flat  tabular  fragments  easily  breaking 
down  in  water,  to  the  clay-slate  of  the  Pent- 
land  Hills  and  the  adhesive  slate  of  Mont- 
martre  near  Paris,  occurring  between  blocks 
of  impure  gypsum,  in  large  straight  plates,  like 
sheets  of  pasteboard.  It  absorbs  water  ra- 
pidly, with  air-bubbles  and  a  crackling  sound. 
So  firm  and  smooth  are  the  large  slabs  in 
which  slate  occurs  in  North  Wales,  that  a 
single  slab  will  sometimes  suffice  for  a  road- 
bridge  over  a  mountain-stream,  and  they 
are  commonly  used  as  fences.  Many  country 
stiles  between  fields  are  made  of  slates  in 
Devonshire.  They  lie  so  evenly,  too,  in  the 


116  CLAY   AND    SLATE. 

quarries  there,  that  it  is  easy  to  pull  one  out 
for  writing, — though,  of  course,  they  are  im- 
proved by  grinding  and  polishing  the  surface 
in  some  degree. 

The  slate  of  these  old  rocks  varies  in  colour 
from  nearly  white  to  gray,  green,  black,  and 
sometimes  striped.  Silica,  or  flint,  sometimes 
mingles  with  the  clay,  forming  slate,  and  ren- 
ders it  more  or  less  brittle.  The  coloured 
slates  are  used  for  the  roofing  of  houses,  the 
flooring  of  dairies  and  conservatories,  and, 
when  tastefully  disposed  in  patterns,  look 
pretty  and  cheerful.  Though  clay  so  readily 
imbibes  water,  good  slate  is  quite  imper- 
vious to  moisture,  which  renders  it  so  fit 
for  domestic  purposes,  and  in  architecture  for 
preventing  the  ascent  of  moisture  from  the 
foundation  up  the  wall  of  a  building.  A 
layer  of  slates  is,  therefore,  laid  between 
the  stones  of  the  foundation  and  the  first 
courses  of  wall-brick.  The  blackest  and 
finest-grained  specimens  are  made  into 
school-slates.  Tombstones,  fancy  tables, 
vases,  flower-pots  and  many  other  articles 
are  made  of  the  prettier  varieties.  The  older 
slate-rocks  appear  to  have  been  subjected  to 
many  convulsions  of  nature,  as  the  strata  are 


HONE-STONE.  117 

much  broken  and  heaved  up ;  and  the  fine 
mountain  scenery  of  the  White  Mountains 
and  Blue  Kidge,  of  the  range  of  Snowden,  in 
Wales,  and  of  the  Alps  of  Switzerland,  is  due 
to  this.  Most  of  the  high  peaks  which  as- 
cend above  the  fields  of  eternal  snow  are 
aiguilles,  or  needles,  of  clay-slate  rock.  Near 
the  slate-quarries  of  Wales  it  seems  a  com- 
plete world  of  slate,  and  the  village  churches 
and  churchyards  look  as  if  they  were  all  in 
mourning,  from  the  black  slate  walls  and 
tombstones  so  prevalent  there.  Some  of  the 
latter  are  prettily  carved,  and  relieved  by 
inscriptions  in  gilt  letters. 

The  hone-stone  of  Turkey,  used  for  sharp- 
ening knives,  and  the  whetstone  of  Germany, 
for  gardeners'  scythes,  are  both  compact  sorts 
of  clay-slate.  It  is  either  of  a  greenish  gray 
or  pale  drab  colour.  Though  so  smooth  and 
hard,  it  is  easily  cut  with  the  knife  or  grav- 
ing-tool,  and  is  therefore  used  by  artists  for 
delicate  sculpture.  So  finely  and  elaborately 
may  it  be  carved,  that  a  piece  of  German  hone- 
stone  only  the  size  of  a  small  octavo  volume, 
having  the  scene  of  naming  John  the  Baptist 
exquisitely  depicted  on  it  by  the  celebrated 
Albert  Durer,  has  been  valued  at  two  thou- 


118  CLAY   AND   SLATE. 

sand  five  hundred  dollars.  Clay  can  thus  be 
made  to  rise  in  value  by  genius  and  patient 
labour.  This  same  sculpture  required  six 
months'  close  application,  and  was  then  deemed 
to  have  been  quickly  accomplished. 

Clay  forms  the  cement  of  many  conglo- 
merate or  mixed  rocks;  such  as  toadstone  and 
gray-wacke,  which  is  variegated  with  frag- 
ments of  quartz,  flinty  slate,  felspar,  mica 
and  clay-slate.  These  fragments  vary  in  size 
from  that  of  a  hen's  egg  to  little  grains. 
Clay-stone  is  hard  and  purple,  like  petrified 
clay.  Indeed,  clay  mingles  so  much  with 
sand  and  limestone  rocks  that  it  is  often 
impossible  to  determine  where  they  pass  into 
one  another.  Geologists  call  them  argilla- 
ceous sandstones,  or  sandy  clay-rock,  and 
argillaceous  limestones,  or  calcareous  clay- 
rock.  All  the  rocks  of  the  world  are  made 
up  partly  of  clay,  partly  of  sand  and  partly 
of  iron,  potash,  soda,  magnesia,  or  other  ma- 
terials ;  but  clay  is  the  next  most  abundant 
after  sand.  Sometimes  near  volcanoes,  or  in 
countries  where  volcanoes  once  existed  which 
are  now  extinct,  the  clay-rocks  have  hardened 
and  burned  by  nature  into  various  and  beauti- 
ful minerals. 


POEPHYEY.  119 

Some  varieties  of  porphyry  seem  to  have 
been  thus  produced.  The  name  porphyry  sig- 
nifies purple,  from  the  Greek  word  porphura, 
as  that  was  the  usual  colour  of  this  stone 
used  by  the  ancients.  In  the  walls  of  our  grotto 
there  is  a  beautiful  specimen  of  Egyptian 
porphyry ,  as  well  as  other  varieties.  It  may 
be  observed  how  compact  and  close-grained 
it  is,  of  a  bright-reddish  purple,  wilh  white 
marks.  It  certainly  does  look  something  like 
baked  clay,  but  it  does  not  smell  much  when 
wetted ;  for  when  clay  has  been  once  heated 
it  loses  the  plastic  quality  and  clayey  smell, 
which  cannot  be  restored  unless  acid  is  added 
to  it. 

Porphyry  is  a  compound  rock,  with  large 
crystals  of  felspar  (sand-clay  and  potash  or 
soda)  so  firmly  imbedded  in  cement  as  to 
become  the  hardest  of  all  rocks,  and,  when 
polished,  perhaps  the  most  enduring.  Though 
it  derives  its  name  from  the  purple  variety, 
it  exhibits  almost  every  colour, — green,  deep 
red,  black,  dark  brown,  gray  and  flesh  colour. 
Quartz,  felspar,  mica  and  fragments  of  other 
porphyries  form  brilliant  spots,  often  finely 
contrasted,  both  in  colour  and  substance,  with 
the  material  in  which  they  are  imbedded. 


120  CLAY   AND   SLATE. 

The  spots  in  some  porphyries  are  very  small, 
as  in  one  of  the  specimens ;  in  others  they  run 
into  large  blotches  of  an  inch  broad;  occa- 
sionally they  exhibit  veins,  and  are  greatly 
valued  for  architectural  purposes, — especially 
the  more  crystalline  sorts.  There  is  abun- 
dance in  the  island  of  Minorca,  far  superior 
to  all  the  best  Italian  marbles ;  and  the 
immense  strata  of  Egypt  and  Arabia  Petraea 
are  still  inexhaustible.  In  Germany,  Eng- 
land and  Ireland,  it  occurs  in  detached  no- 
dules; and  near  Blair  Athol,  in  Scotland, 
there  is  a  fine  example  of  a  bed  of  porphyry 
slate  in  rocks  of  mica. 

Porphyry  is  not  often  used  now,  as  it  is  very 
difficult  to  cut,  from  its  extreme  hardness.  In 
Egypt  there  were  three  fine  columns  of  black 
porphyry,  called  Cleopatra's  Needles ;  and  seve- 
ral similar  ones  are  seen  at  Rome  in  some 
of  the  most  ancient  buildings.  One  of  these 
is  in  the  tomb  of  Constantia,  the  Emperor 
Constantino's  daughter.  In  the  Tuilleries,  at 
Paris,  there  were  busts  of  Apollo  and  twelve 
emperors,  all  in  porphyry;  and  at  Aix-la- 
Chapelle  are  twelve  exquisite  columns,  brought 
from  Italy  by  Charlemagne.  In  the  middle 
ages  the  art  of  cutting  porphyry  seems  to 


POKPHYRY.  121 

have  been  lost,  as  Addison,  who  was  curious 
in  such  matters,  visited  Rome  in  1700,  and 
relates  that  even  then  he  could  only  find  one 
workman  attempting  to  carve  it,  and  the  pro- 
cess was  so  slow  and  the  success  so  indif- 
ferent that  he  could  scarcely  gain  a  liveli- 
hood. Many  persons  have  tried  to  revive  the 
art,  and  devised  methods  of  softening  the 
stone,  or  grinding  it  with  an  untoothed  iron 
saw  and  powdered  freestone;  and  lately  the 
Duke  of  Wellington's  sarcophagus  has  been 
cut  out  of  a  boulder  of  porphyry  which  had 
lain  for  ages  upon  the  Treffray  estate  at  Lux- 
alyan,  in  Cornwall.  It  is  of  a  rich,  reddish- 
brown  colour,  with  yellow  markings.  Her- 
aldic arms  have  been  carved  on  a  boss  at  each 
end. 

At  first  thought,  it  seems  strange  that  any 
art  once  known  should  be  ever  lost.  But  per- 
haps we  need  not  wonder  at  it  much,  for  his- 
tory details  so  many  wars  desolating  the  earth 
that  the  arts  of  peace  must  sometimes  have 
been  forgotten.  Moreover,  the  possessors  of 
knowledge  were  often  too  anxious  to  render 
themselves  important  by  treasuring  it  as  a 
secret,  instead  of  regarding  it  as  a  talent 
intrusted  to  them  for  the  general  good. 
11 


122  CLAY    AND    SLATE. 

Many  of  the  crayons  used  in  drawing  are 
really  slate  or  hardened  clayey  earth:  the 
black,  gray  and  red  chalks  are  mostly  of  these 
materials,  which  are  sometimes  boiled  in  oil  to 
render  them  compact  enough  for  use. 

The  stiff  blue  clay,  lying  to  so  great  a  depth 
almost  everywhere  round  and  beneath  London, 
is  a  marine  deposit,  containing  numberless  re- 
mains of  extraordinary  sea-animals,  none  of 
which  now  exist.  A  similar  sort  of  clay  is 
observed  at  the  foot  of  the  Himalaya  Moun- 
tains of  India.  This  blue  clay  forms  the  re- 
servoir whence  the  deep  wells  of  London  are 
supplied  with  fine  soft  water. 

"Ah,  I  suppose  the  clay  holds  the  water," 
said  Edward;  "  for  it  all  sank  in  my  pond  till 
I  plastered  it  with  clay." 

"  Just  so,"  answered  Mr.  Goodman:  " there- 
fore you  can  easily  understand  the  important 
use  of  these  beds  of  clay  in  the  formation  of 
our  earth,  for  collecting  and  retaining  that 
necessary  of  animal  and  vegetable  life,  water; 
and  when  these  natural  reservoirs  overflow, 
streams  trickle  through  the  soil,  and,  joinin 
others,  form  rivers,  lakes  and  seas.  When 
the  basin  structure  of  the  rocks  is  extensive 
and  the  waters  run  down  the  slopes  under 


o 


ALUMINA.  123 

ground  for  many  miles,  they  rise  in  Artesian 
wells  to  the  surface  with  great  force.  The 
Du  Pont  well  at  Louisville,  in  Kentucky,  is 
two  thousand  one  hundred  and  eighty  feet 
deep;  and  the  water,  which  comes  seventy- 
five  miles  in  a  straight  line  from  hills  five 
hundred  feet  above  the  level  of  the  city,  rises 
from  the  mouth  of  the  well  in  a  jet  one  hun- 
dred feet  in  the  air,  with  a  force  to  carry  up 
small  stones.  Limestone-clay  rocks  form  the 
bottom  of  this  layer  of  water.  The  well  at 
St.  Louis,  in  Missouri,  is  two  hundred  feet 
deeper,  and  was  intended  to  furnish  pure 
water  for  the  sugar-refinery  of  Mr.  Belcher, 
who  had  it  dug ;  but  the  water  turned  out  to 
be  salt,  and  worthless  for  that  purpose." 

Mr.  Goodman  went  on  to  say  that  clay  is 
useful  also  as  a  purifying  agent  in  manufac- 
turing sugar,  chiefly  by  preventing  its  cooling 
too  quickly;  and  gardeners  also  use  it  in 
grafting  trees. 

Alumina,  or  pure  clay,  is  so  closely  allied 
to  common  clay  that  we  ought  not  to  omit  its 
mention  now.  These  pretty  crystals  of  alum 
are  only  one  form  of  alumina,  produced,  by  a 
long  and  troublesome  process  of  melting,  boil- 
ing and  washing,  from  a  primitive  clayey- 


124  CLAY   AND   SLATE. 

looking  earth  found  in  Sweden,  England, 
Saxony  and  Italy.  Alumina  is  seldom  found 
native,  although  it  is  so  widely  diffused  in 
nature  as  to  mingle  in  almost  every  soil  and 
rock.  It  is  this  ingredient  that  gives  clay  its 
plastic  or  moulding  quality;  and  yet  when 
added  to  tallow  it  hardens  it.  Sir  Humphry 
Davy  demonstrated  alumina  to  be  an  oxide 
of  the  metal  aluminum.  In  pure  oxygen  gas 
this  metal  burns  with  so  dazzling  a  light  that 
the  eye  can  scarcely  bear  it,  and  the  heat  is 
intense. 

The  crystallized  salts  of  alumina,  known  as 
alum,  are  largely  used,  not  only  in  hardening 
tallow,  but  in  dyeing  calico  and  tanning  lea- 
ther, and  making  porcelain,  bricks,  pottery 
and  crucibles.  It  is  used  also  in  preparing 
the  artists'  paint,  called  lake;  and  aluminous 
earth,  finely  powdered  and  tinged,  constitutes 
many  of  our  coloured  crayons.  Printers' 
cushions,  and  the  blocks  used  by  calico- 
printers,  are  often  rubbed  with  burned  alum 
to  remove  any  greasiness  which  would  pre- 
vent the  ink  and  dye  from  sticking  to  the 
surface.  Wood  well  soaked  in  a  solution  of 
alum  does  not  easily  burn;  paper  steeped  in 
it  resists  both  fire  and  water,  fitting  it  for 


SHALE.  125 

holding  gunpowder.  Alum  mbted  in  milk 
helps  the  separation  of  the  butter;  while  a 
very  small  quantity  will  clear  turbid  water. 
It  is  also  used  in  making  pyrophorus,  or  air- 
tinder, — a  material  which  takes  fire  merely  on 
exposure  to  the  air.  At  the  English  alum- 
works  it  is  crystallized  in  the  shape  of  small 
barrels,  the  inner  portions  of  which  exhibit 
beautiful  crystals;  but  a  better  sort  comes 
from  Eome;  in  small  cubes.  The  Chinese  pre- 
pare large  quantities  of  alum,  with  which 
India  is  chiefly  supplied.  Medicinally,  it  is 
valuable  as  an  astringent,  particularly  for 
healing  and  hardening  the  gums. 

Many  of  the  clays  yield  a  considerable 
quantity  of  alum  in  an  efflorescence,  by  ex- 
posure to  the  air 'or  the  heat  of  a  furnace, 
such  as  the  sulphuretted  clay  of  La  Tolfa,  in 
Italy,  and  the  pyritaceous  clay  of  Schwemsal, 
in  Saxony. 

Shale  is  another  sort  of  bituminous  clay, 
from  which  alum  is  easily  procured  by  burn- 
ing or  calcining  it  in  a  furnace.  There  is  a 
large  bed  of  this  near  Whitby,  employing 
many  hands  in  the  manufacture  of  alum. 
Few  persons  would  ever  have  thought  of  alum 
being  prepared  from  clay;  but  it  is  very  inte- 
11* 


126  CLAY   AND    SLATE. 

resting  to  know  the  history  of  the  materials 
we  use  in  ordinary  life. 

Edward  and  Alice  thanked  their  father  for 
his  information,  and  professed  themselves  al- 
most glad  of  the  unexpected  failure  of  their 
experiments,  as  it  had  led  to  his  notice.  But 
he  told  them  he  had  some  other  interesting 
things  to  tell  them  about  clay,  if  they  were 
not  tired  of  listening  to  him. 

Oh,  no,  they  said:  they  could  listen  all 
day. 

He  then  described  to  them  the  clay-banks 
of  the  Hudson  and  New  England  rivers,  with 
their  curious  balls  of  clay,  which  have  excited 
the  astonishment  of  geologists  as  well  as  of 
common  travellers.  These  deposits  are  called 
post-tertiary  clays,  and  are  the  last  formations 
of  this  continent  before  the  history  of  man 
commenced.  They  were  deposited  when  the 
ocean  covered  all  the  Atlantic  seaboard,  or 
"  tide-water  country,"  as  it  is  called  in  Vir- 
ginia, and  flowed  in  broad  straits  up  the  val- 
leys of  the  Hudson,  Mohawk,  Connecticut  and 
Housatonic  Rivers  into  the  valley  of  the  St. 
Lawrence.  At  that  time  New  England  and 
New  York  must  have  been  three  great  islands, 
like  what  Newfoundland  and  Anticosta  are  now. 


CLAY-BANKS.  127 

"When  the  continent  slowly  rose,  the  ocean  re- 
tired to  its  present  limits,  but  the  clays  it 
had  deposited  in  these  straits  were  carried  up 
high  into  the  air.  As  the  land  rose  more  in 
Canada  than  it  did  in  New  Jersey,  these  clay- 
beds  are  only  fifty  or  sixty  feet  above  the 
water-level  in  the  neighbourhood  of  West  Point 
and  Newburgh,  but  are  two  hundred  and  fifty 
or  three  hundred  feet  above  Lake  Champlain 
at  Burlington,  and  an  equal  height  above 
water-level  at  Montreal.  The  rains  have 
washed  these  clay  hills  into  ravines  and  steep 
cliffs,  in  which  the  sand-martins  build  in- 
numerable villages  of  holes;  and  sometimes 
there  happen  avalanches  of  sand  and  clay, 
which  bury  houses  and  people  under  them. 
Such  a  calamity  happened  a  few  years  ago  at 
Troy. 

Out  of  these  banks  of  clay  the  river-floods 
and  rain-storms  wash  shells  and  the  curious 
shapes  of  clay  which  induced  me,  said  Mr. 
G-oodman,  to  go  into  this  long  description. 
They  are  of  every  variety, — round  as  marbles 
or  balls,  egg-shaped,  long  pipe-like  cylinders, 
dumb-bells,  potato-formed,  flat  like  plates, 
ring  or  quoit  shaped,  and  sometimes  showing 
some  fine  stem  or  piece  of  sand  in  the  centre. 


128  CLAY   AND    SLATE. 

Great  collections  of  them  have  been  made; 
but  no  one  has  yet  quite  satisfactorily  ex- 
plained the  manner  of  their  formation.  We 
only  know  that  all  clay  seems  to  form  itself, 
when  permitted,  into  circular  forms;  and  you 
can  tell  a  rock  that  has  a  large  quantity  of 
clay  in  its  composition,  by  the  roundness  of 
its  corners,  in  a  few  months  or  years  after  it 
has  been  blasted  or  broken  into  sharp  edges. 

There  is  another  remarkable  circumstance 
connected  with  the  ancient  deposit  of  clay.'  I 
refer  to  the  red  clays  of  the  formation  under- 
neath the  coal,  and  to  the  red  clays  also  which 
were  deposited  in  the  ancient  valley  of  the 
Connecticut  and  in  the  ancient  estuary  of 
Newark  and  Morristown.  These  red  clays 
are  now  red  rocks;  but  they  were  once  the 
shore  of  a  shallow  sea,  on  which  the  waves  of 
the  tide  flowed  up  and  down;  for,  when  the 
rock  is  quarried,  there  are  the  marks  which 
the  waves  have  left;  there  are  the  marks  of 
rain  and  hail  drops  on  the  once  soft  mud; 
there  are  thousands  of  tadpole-nests,  or  the 
nests  of  some  small  fish,  such  as  you  may  see. 
in  the  clear  sandy  bottoms  of  our  present 
streams;  and  there  are  the  footprints  of  over 
an  hundred  and  twenty  different  kinds  of 


FOOTPRINTS.  129 

worms,  crabs,  reptiles  and  birds,  in  lines  so 
plainly  marked  that  no  doubt  is  left  upon 
the  mind  that  thousands  of  these  creatures 
wandered  to  and  fro  upon  that  ancient  shore, 
leaving  their  footsteps  to  be  covered  up  and 
preserved  by  each  returning  tide.  Some  day 
I  will  take  you  to  see  the  great  collection  of 
these  tracks  at  Amherst.  Meanwhile,  come  into 
my  library,  and  I  will  show  you  the  pictures 
of  them  in  a  noble  book,  which  the  State  of 
Massachusetts  has  enabled  Dr.  Hitchcock  to 
print,  to  show  the  world  these  wonders  of  the 
great  Creator's  goodness  and  skill. 


130  FLINT  AND   SAND. 


CHAPTER  V. 

FLINT   AND   SAND. 

THE  grotto-building  had  sent  many  a  party 
out  to  collect  curiosities,  and,  combining  busi- 
ness with  pleasure,  they  carried  their  dinner 
with  them  and  brought  home  their  provision- 
baskets  laden  with  shells  or  stones.  Edward 
usually  carried  his  geological  hammer  with 
him,  and  found  ample  work  in  breaking  the 
rocks  to  pieces  to  discover  their  composition. 
Among  their  various  parts  he  occasionally 
found  nodules  or  balls  of  hornstone,  or  layers 
of  flint,  which  excited  his  admiration  by  their 
glittering  smoothness  and  the  sharp  edges 
which  the  broken  pieces  had.  He  thought 
that  they  might  be  even  used  for  knives  in 
cases  of  necessity ;  and  he  remembered  having 
seen  such  used  in  old  flint-lock  guns. 

His  father  told  him  that  in  the  interior  of 
the  country  there  were  places  where  finer 
qualities  of  these  flints  had  been  quarried,  so  to 


FLINT.  131 

speak,  by  the  Indians,  long  before  the  arrival 
of  white  men ;  and  the  farmers  find,  in  plough- 
ing near  such  places,  multitudes  of  broken 
pieces  and  chips  of  flint,  and  perfect  arrow-heads 
and  knives ;  for  the  natives  had  no  knowledge 
of  iron,  or  could  not  make  it.  In  England 
and  France  there  are  many  similar  places ;  and 
the  museums  of  Europe  are  full  of  specimens 
of  the  skill  of  the  aboriginal  tribes  of  men 
inhabiting  the  country  before  the  cultivated 
Greeks  and  Eomans  came  among  them  from 
the  East  and  South.  In  fact,  it  seems  as  if 
all  men  at  first  used  flint,  and  afterwards 
copper  hardened  with  a  little  tin,  and  finally 
iron.  The  Egyptian  priests,  like  the  Mexican 
priests,  sacrificed  with  sharp  black  stones  for 
knives, — made  of  a  sort  of  volcanic  flint  called 
obsidian.  The  barrows  or  mound-graves  of 
Sweden  and  Norway,  when  opened  by  anti- 
quaries, yield  many  articles  of  stone  buried 
with  the  kings  and  warriors  whose  skeletons 
are  found  in  them.  And  it  is  said  there  have 
been  found  such  implements  at  the  bottom  of 
the  gravel-beds  of  Picardy  in  France,  mixed 
with  the  bones  of  extinct  animals.  Flint, 
therefore,  has  been  an  important  aid  to  man. 
"Tell  us,"  said  Mr.  Goodman,  one  day,  turn- 


132  FLINT   AND   SAND. 

ing  to  Edward's  uncle,  who  had  come  over  from 
England  to  visit  them,  and  was  admiring  their 
little  grotto,  to  the  great  delight  of  the  chil- 
dren,— "  tell  us  about  the  chalk  cliffs  of  Dover, 
and  the  rows  of  round  flint  stones  which  I  re- 
member to  have  once  seen  in  them  when  cross- 
ing the  English  Channel  to  Calais.  If  I  re- 
collect right,  they  lie  in  regular  rows  one 
above  another,  and,  when  the  waves  dash 
against  the  bottom  of  the  cliffs,  the  chalk  falls 
down  and  the  balls  of  flint  roll  out  and  are 
tossed  about  upon  the  shore." 

"Yes,"  replied  the  uncle:  "I  have  noticed 
in  my  travels  that  the  internal  composition  of 
hills  can  be  usually  discovered  by  their  out- 
ward shapes, — especially  where  they  are  under 
the  influence  of  the  poweiful  destroying  agency 
of  water.  Clay-rock  hills  are  usually  of  a  soft, 
rounded  aspect,  while  sand-rocks  form  sharp 
ridges.  Chalk  cliffs  are  cut  straight  down, 
with  beetling  heights  overlooking  the  sea; 
and  the  two  shores  of  Dover  and  Calais  face 
each  other  in  such  a  way  that  no  one  doubts 
that  the  chalk  once  stretched  across  the 
channel,  but  has  since  been  broken  through 
and  washed  away  by  the  currents  of  the 
sea.  Here  is  a  picture  which,  at  the  left 


FLINT    BALLS.  133 

hand,  shows  these  cliffs  of  chalk.  The  right 
hand  shows  a  very  different  kind  of  shore, — 
that  of  the  north  of  Ireland,  where  an  ancient 
lava  current  has  made  the  celebrated  Giants' 
Causeway.  The  middle  division  of  the  picture 
shows  how  the  rocks  are  often  bent  so  that 
the  lowest  layers  rise  in  the  middle  higher 
than  the  layers  which  are  really  above  them; 
and  this  sometimes  shows  itself  on  the  sea- 
shore. 

"  The  flint  balls  in  the  chalk  are  all  separated 
from  each  other,  and  no  two  of  them  are  ex- 
actly alike.  I  have  frequently  broken  them 
open  with  my  hammer  :  some  are  white,  others 
gray  or  black,  many  are  hollow,  and  contain 
a  little  water,  or  some  bright  crystals,  while 
others  exhibit  substances  looking  like  bits  of 
sponge,  shells,  or  other  matters, — their  only 
general  resemblance  being  the  white  cherty 
crust  which  envelopes  all.  When  I  was  last 
in  England,  I  selected  the  prettiest  and  most 
curious  I  could  find ;  and  you  shall  have  them 
to  fill  up  the  vacant  places  in  your  grotto." 

Mr.  Goodman  then  explained  that  flints 
consisted  almost  entirely  of  silex  or  silica, 
which  is  an  oxide  of  the  base  silicium  or  silicon. 
How  they  got  among  chalk  cliffs  in  such 

12 


134  FLINT   AND   SAND. 

regular  lines,  yet  each  one  lying  quite  sepa- 
rately from  all  the  rest,  is  something  for  the 
chemist  to  explain.  It  is  known  that  natural 
hot  springs  often  contain  silica  in  solution, — 
that  is,  dissolved  or  melted, —  and  that  as 
the  water  is  evaporated,  or  as  the  silica  sinks 
to  the  bottom,  it  gradually  encrusts  every 
thing  in  its  way,  or  hardens  into  nodules  such 
as  these  .flint  stones ;  but  how  it  leaves  the 
chalk  so  pure  and  dry  is  very  hard  to  under- 
stand. Its  texture  is  so  close  and  even  that 
some  have  fancied  that  flint  must  have  been 
originally  in  a  state  like  jelly. 

Flint  seldom  forms  entire  rocks,  or  veins 
of  rock,  and  never  assumes  any  regular  crys- 
tallized shapes.  It  sometimes  occurs  in  rolled 
pieces,  like  tubes,  with  a  hole  through.  Flints 
are  common  in  every  part  of  the  world  and  in 
all  sorts  of  mountains.  Among  those  which 
seem  to  be  the  oldest,  they  appear  in  the  veins 
of  metal,  but  they  are  most  abundant  in  chalk. 
When  rubbed  together  in  the  dark,  they 
phosphoresce,  or  give  out  light  and  heat,  and 
emit  a  peculiar  smell.  They  are  very  hard, 
but  doubtless  could  be  cut  and  carved ;  for  on 
the  ancient  abbey-gates  of  Canterbury  and 
Colchester,  in  England,  are  some  ornaments 


FLINT    PEBBLES.  135 

of  cut  flint ;  and  it  is  occasionally  squared  and 
used  for  paving  observatories,  instead  of  slate 
or  lead :  it  is,  however,  more  commonly  pow- 
dered, or  ground,  for  modern  use.  In  the 
county  of  Sussex,  England,  there  are  many 
houses  and  churches  built  of  flint ;  and  very 
substantial  they  look  even  now,  although 
they  have  been  standing  many  years.  Where 
they  are  plentiful,  flint  pebbles  are  still  used 
for  building,  as  they  hold  mortar  firmly, 
and  really  look  pretty.  They  are  very  dura- 
ble, unless  fire  is  applied, — when  they  cal- 
cine and  powder.  Several  of  the  precious 
stones  named  in  the  book  of  the  Revelation 
as  the  foundations  of  the  New  Jerusalem  are 
varieties  of  silica  or  flint,  symbolizing  their 
durability  and  strength.  I  have  already 
spoken  of  the  arrow-points  and  spear-heads 
of  the  ancient  Britcns,  specimens  of  which 
turn  up  in  various  parts  of  England  and 
Wales. 

"  Do  they  not  break  very  easily?  I  broke 
several  with  my  hammer,"  said  Edward. 

"  Yes ;  because  you  had  just  taken  them 
from  the  quarry,  or  the  chalk-bed  in  which 
they  were  deposited :  they  were,  therefore, 
brittle,  as  well  as  moist;  but  they  dry  quickly, 


136  FLINT   AND   SAND. 

and,  when  dry,  assume  their  well-known  hard 
and  refractory  qualities." 

Flints,  Mr.  Goodman  stated,  so  very  gene- 
rally have  a  cavity  inside,  or  enclose  the  re- 
mains of  sponges,  shells  and  marine  zoophytes, 
that  it  is  highly  probable  they  are  merely 
an  aggregation  or  collection  of  silex  around 
a  nucleus  of  some  organic  substance,  which 
has  accumulated  so  gradually  and  gently  that 
the  shape  of  the  delicate  structure  inside  has 
been  completely  preserved,  as  may  be  seen 
with  a  magnifying-glass  in  some  of  those 
brought  home.  Thin  slices  of  flint  from  many 
localities  have  been  examined  by  the  micro- 
scope, and  all  exhibit  a  similar  network  of 
fibrous  appearance,  much  like  that  of  a  thin 
slice  of  sponge.  Those  beautiful  fossil  woods 
brought  from  Antigua  are  composed  almost 
entirely  of  silica,  so  thoroughly  introduced 
into  all  the  pores  of  the  trees  that  their  former 
grain  can  be  distinctly  perceived,  so  as  to  be 
named  by  any  carpenter.  When  shown  to 
one,  he  called  one  of  those  pieces  oak,  and 
another  maple;  but  the  crystalline  part  in  the 
large  veins  does  certainly  look  very  like  the 
inside  of  the  flints  from  the  cliffs.  These 
crystalline  portions  would  also  burn  to  pow- 


MOSS   AGATES.  137 

der  in  the  fire,  no  doubt,  though  the  powder 
of  the  fossil  wood  would  probably  show  its 
colouring-matter. 

Some  of  these  pieces  of  fossil  wood  would 
look  very  pretty  sliced  and  polished,  and 
would  then  be  termed  chalcedonies,  or  agates. 
They  are  often  beautifully  marked  in  regular 
lines,  and  are  therefore  called  fortification, 
ribbon,  or  moss  agates :  indeed,  they  are  most 
highly  valued  when  the  internal  figure  resem- 
bles some  animal  or  plant. 

M.  Brogniart  examined  a  large  number  of 
moss  agates,  to  discover  some  certain  evidence 
that  the  enclosed  forms  were  really  vege- 
table; but  he  came  to  the  conclusion  that 
they  were  all  due  to  an  arborescent  crys- 
tallization of  some  metal,  such  as  manganese 
or  iron.  But  lately  agates  have  been  found 
which  seem  to  show  true  branches  and  leaves 
of  vegetables. 

The  name  "  chalcedony"  is  derived  from  the 
city  of  Chalcedon,  in  Asia  Minor,  where  this 
form  of  flint  was  found  in  ancient  times.  The 
best  spectacle  and  opera  glasses  are  of  rock 
crystal,  which  is  the  purest  form  of  silica,  so 
transparent  and  so  hard  that  they  will  bear 
cutting  into  thin  slices  and  polishing.  They 

12* 


138  FLINT   AND    SAND. 

not  only  magnify  better  than  artificial  glass, 
but  cannot  be  scratched  so  readily,  while  they 
are  cooler  and  more  pleasant  to  the  eye. 

The  uses  of  flints  are  very  various :  the  white 
flints,  most  abundant  at  Swanscombe,  near 
Gravesend,  England,  are  ground  for  the  best 
china-ware  and  finest  flint-glass.  Before  the 
invention  of  lucifer  matches  and  percussion- 
caps,  they  were  as  indispensable  to  the  house- 
wife's tinder-box  as  to  the  sportsman's  gun. 
They  are  used,  too,  for  some  diseases  of  horses' 
eyes.  Most  sands,  and  sandstones,  consist  so 
entirely  of  silica  that  they  ought  to  be  classed 
with  flints,  though  sandstone  is  a  hard  rock 
and  fliuts  are  always  in  separate  nodules. 
Careful  examination  will  show  that  common 
sandstone  consists  of  minute  particles  of  silica 
cemented  by  argillaceous  or  clayey  earth.  It 
is  soft  at  first,  like  the  new  red  sandstone 
rocks  in  Staffordshire,  but  in  the  lapse  of 
years  it  becomes  extremely  hard,  forming 
the  free-stone  used  for  paving  and  building. 
These  particles  of  silica  are  actually  rolled 
and  rounded  rock  crystals,  formed  by  the 
slow  breaking  up  and  wearing  away  of  granite 
or  other  crystalline  rocks  of  a  more  ancient 
date.  The  Paris  building-stone,  the  Caen 


SILICA.  139 

stone,  the  Portland  stone,  the  Pictou  stone  of 
Nova  Scotia,  and  the  Norristown  and  Newark 
red  sandstones  are  instances  of  building-mate- 
rial which  hardens  after  use. 

So  many  substances  have  silica  mingling 
with  them  in  various  proportions  that  it 
must  be  regarded  as  one  of  the  most  im- 
portant of  earth's  treasures,  and  is  found 
scattered  everywhere.  In  fact,  one-half  of  the 
whole  crust  of  the  globe  is  made  of  it.  It 
enters  into  all  rocks,  and,  of  course,  into  all 
soils.  Many  vegetables  owe  their  strength  to 
the  silica  they  imbibe  from  the  earth.  The 
grasses  especially  require  for  their  healthy 
growth  a  large  proportion  of  silica ;  and  it  is 
this  substance  which  renders  their  slender 
stalks  so  strong  and  stiff.  This  has  been 
shown  by  actual  experiment;  for  a  bead  of 
silex  as  transparent  as  glass  has  been  extracted 
from  grass  by  a  blow-pipe.  Moreover,  when 
a  stack  of  hay  in  a  meadow,  between  Mannheim 
and  Heidelberg,  in  Germany,  was  set  on  fire 
by  lightning,  and  entirely  consumed,  the  silex 
which  remained  was  found  in  a  melted  mass 
upon  the  ground.  It  looked  somewhat  like 
glass,  and  was  at  first  supposed  to  be  the  pro- 
duct of  a  meteor,  but,  when  chemically  tested, 


140  FLINT   AND   SAND. 

proved  to  be  silica  combined  with  potash,  just 
as  it  usually  exists  in  grass.  That  substance 
was  in  reality  the  ashes  of  the  hay;  and  the 
ashes  of  burned  corn,  sugarcane  and  bamboo, 
all  of  which  are  varieties  of  grass,  generally 
consist  principally  of  minute  particles  of  flint. 
Some  reeds  will  strike  fire;  others  are  used 
as  rasps  by  artists,  especially  in  finishing 
plaster  busts  or  ornaments.  Some  kinds  of 
polishing-powder  are  made  up  of  the  minute 
sandy  shields  of  microscopic  animals.  But 
silica  seldom  exists  in  animals,  and  then  only 
in  consequence  of  disease. 

The  best  millstones  are  made  from  a  rock 
which  is  almost  pure  silica,  called  burrstone, 
full  of  cavities  or  blisters,  tinted  with  iron, 
and  exceeding  hard.  Finer  kinds  are  used 
for  grindstones,  and  still  finer  for  whetstones, 
by  glass-cutters  and  cutlers.  Silicious  or 
flinty  sand  is  used  also  for  the  beds  in  which 
iron,  brass  and  other  metals  are  cast,  equal- 
izing the  heat  of  the  china-kiln  or  potter's  oven. 
The  chemist  uses  it  to  make  his  sand-bath, 
which  heats  slowly  and  retains  a  uniform 
temperature  for  a  long  time.  It  will,  how- 
ever, melt  entirely  under  very  great  heat,  as 
we  find  upon  examining  volcanic  productions. 


IGNEOUS   EOCKS.  141 

Indeed,  silica  mingles  largely  with  the  basalt, 
greenstone,  hornblende,  trap,  granite  and  ser- 
pentine of  those  rocks  which  are  said  to  be 
of  igneous  origin, — that  is,  which  were  once 
in  the  condition  of  boiling  fluids,  like  the  lava 
of  burning  mountains. 

Many  of  these  igneous  rocks  much  resemble 
various  modern  volcanic  productions.  Though 
the  granite  and  basalt  rocks  do  not  exhibit 
any  evidences  of  cones  and  craters,  like  the 
burning  mountains  of  the  present  day,  yet 
veins  of  granite  occur  shooting  upwards  so 
vertically  through  every  stratum  of  rock  in 
various  parts  of  the  world,  that  volcanic  erup- 
tions alone  seem  to  account  for  them.  But 
some  of  these  rocks  were  perhaps  made  pasty 
by  water  and  a  gentle  heat,  and  slowly  pressed 
up  through  cracks  by  the  weight  of  the  rocks 
above  them.  Such  has  been  the  case  some- 
times with  limestone,  and  even  with  coal.  As 
the  earth  seems  to  be  still  gradually  cooling, 
the  water  of  ancient  times  may  have  held 
much  more  silica  in  solution  than  is  common 
now,  as  we  only  find  it  in  hot  springs,  around 
which  it  is  deposited  so  constantly  that  petri- 
factions abound  around  them,  especially  in 
Iceland,  where  the  Geysers  are  ornamented 


142  FLINT   AND    SAND. 

with  mosses  and  grasses  so  incrusted  witli 
silica  that  the  original  vegetable  has  entirely 
disappeared,  leaving  only  its  semblance  in  deli- 
cate crystal,  or  frosted  stone-work,  looking 
very  beautiful. 

Stems  of  a  soft  and  succulent  nature  are 
found  preserved  in  flint ;  and  even  the  young 
leaves  of  a  palm-tree  just  about  to  shoot  forth 
have  been  discovered  completely  silicified. 
The  process  is  difficult  to  understand;  but  it 
has  occurred  in  innumerable  instances,  in  all 
ages  of  the  world  and  in  all  kinds  of  rocks. 
We  may  see  at  the  glass-works  how  com- 
pletely foreign  substances  can  be  enclosed  in 
melted  matter,  and  then  vitrified, — as  those 
elegant  French  glass  letter-weights  enclose 
bunches  of  artificial  flowers,  or  the  silver 
crest  is  put  into  those  pretty  dessert-plates 
we  saw  one  day  being  made  there. 

The  polishing-stone  called  Tripoli  consists 
almost  entirely  of  silicious  or  flinty  matter, — 
which  has  originated,  as  the  microscope  shows 
us,  from  the  shells  or  shields  of  animalculse 
long  since  extinct.  With  a  powerful  magnifier, 
many  thousands  of  these  shells  are  still  dis- 
tinguishable in  a  cubic  inch  of  Tripoli.  At  a 
meeting  of  the  British  Association,  Professor 


SILEX.  143 

Ehrenberg  exhibited  a  large  glass  full  of  sili- 
cious  or  flinty  earth,  which  he  had  prepared 
from  animalculae  now  existing. 

Silex  is  certainly  the  most  abundant  sub- 
stance on  our  globe;  for  it  is  proved  by 
analysis  to  form  two-thirds  of  all  the  mine- 
rals yet  examined,  including  some  of  the 
hardest  gems  and  softest  clays.  It  is  the 
most  plentiful  ingredient  of  the  oldest  rocks, 
but  mingles  also  in  various  proportions  with 
the  rocks  of  every  age  and  every  variety. 
The  felspars  contain  about  one-half  silica  and 
one-third  alumina;  and  with  the  addition  of 
portions  of  lime,  potash,  soda,  or  oxide  of  iron, 
they  produce  the  beautiful  crystalline  sub- 
stances with  golden  specks,  known  as  sun- 
stone,  moonstone,  and  ice-spar.* 

*"  MUSICAL  SAND." — Hugh  Miller  tells  us  that  he 
observed  that  the  loose  Oolitic  sand  of  the  Bay  of  Laig, 
in  the  Isle  of  Eigg,  Hebrides,  yields  a  sonorous  sound — 
sometimes  a  musical  note — to  the  tread,  especially  when 
pressed  obliquely  in  the  step.  In  its  drier  tracts  this 
sound  is  obvious  only  during  calm  weather  at  a  distance 
of  twenty  or  thirty  yards  ;  but  where  damp  ground  exists 
beneath  the  surface,  and  the  dry  sand  lies  above,  the  tones 
are  louder  and  sharper. 

Similar  sounds  have  been  observed  for  ages  on  Jebel 
Nakous,  or  "  the  Mountain  of  the  Bell,"  about  three 


144  FLINT   AND    SAND. 

Every  one  has  noticed  the  musical  sound 
of  wheels  in  the  dry  sands  of  the  Jersey  pines, 


miles  from  the  Gulf  of  Suez,  "  resembling  the  low  tones 
of  an  ^Eolian  harp,  and  occasionally  the  striking  of  a 
clock,  or  the  notes  produced  by  drawing  moistened  fin- 
gers over  glass,  or  even  the  rumbling  of  distant  thunder," 
when  a  large  extent  of  this  sand  was  agitated. 

About  forty  miles  north  of  Cabul,  near  the  base  of  the 
Hindoo  Koosh  Mountains,  is  the  hill  of  Reg  Rawan,  or 
"  Moving  Sand,"  which,  when  disturbed  by  people 
sliding  down  it,  emits  sounds  " resembling  those  issuing 
from  drums  and  nagarats," — a  phenomenon  which  at- 
tracted the  notice  of  the  natives  at  a  very  early  period. 
Both  Hindoos  and  Arabs  have  characteristic  superstitions 
to  explain  these  curious  facts ;  but  they  still  puzzle  the 
more  scientific  inquirers  of  the  present  day.  The  sands 
of  these  three  localities,  in  Scotland,  Arabia  and  Cabul, 
are  similar,  though  not  precisely  identical,  in  compo- 
sition. At  the  Bay  of  Laig,  Hugh  Miller  perceived 
"that  the  loudest  sounds  were  elicited  by  drawing  the 
hand  slowly  through  the  incoherent  mass  in  a  segment  of 
a  circle  at  the  full  stretch  of  the  arm,  and  that  the  vibra- 
tions which  produce  them  communicate  a  peculiar  titil- 
lating sensation  to  the  hand  or  foot  by  which  they  are 
elicited,  extending  in  the  foot  to  the  knee,  and  in  the 
hand  to  the  elbow."  In  1832,  M.  Seetzen,  a  German, 
and  Mr.  Grey,  of  University  College,  Oxford,  were  the 
only  Europeans  who  had  visited  Jebel  Nakous,  the  Moun- 
tain of  the  Bell.  Lieutenant  Welsted,  of  the  Indian 
Navy,  afterwards  carefully  explored  the  mountain,  and 
gave  a  fine  lithograph  of  it  in  his  Travels;  and,  in 


MUSICAL   SANDS.  145 

or  the  coarse  white  sands  which  cover  the  top 
of  the  Broad  Mountain  in  the  anthracite  coal- 
region. 


1837,  Sir  Alexander  Barnes  visited  the  Indian  "Moving 
Sand." 

See  "The  Cruise  of  the  Betsy,"  page  59;  Sir  J.  Her- 
schel's  "Treatise  on  Sound;"  "North  British  Review," 
March  31,  1845. 

In  the  United  States  such  musical  sand  may  be  heard 
and  gathered  at  Tiverton,  near  Newport,  in  Rhode  Island. 


1 46  GRAVEL. 


CHAPTEE  VI. 

GRAVEL. 

THE  pretty,  bright,  yellow-coloured  gravel, 
which  looks  so  cheerful  and  furnishes  such 
pretty  paths  in  our  gardens,  is  not  to  be  found 
everywhere;  and  therefore,  when  Edward 
visited  some  friends  at  a  distance,  he  was 
much  struck  with  its  appearance,  and,  as 
usual,  brought  home  some  specimens  and 
endeavoured  to  find  out  its  origin  and  com- 
position. Mr.  Goodman  noticed  his  studies; 
but  having  early  inculcated  the  maxim, "  Read 
and  you  will  know/'*  that  his  children  might 
exercise  their  own  minds,  he  left  him  for  a  time 
to  his  own  researches  among  dictionaries  and 
encyclopedias,  without  making  any  remark. 

Poor  Edward,  however,  found  that  these 
learned  compilations  did  not  solve  many  of 
his  inquiries:  indeed,  some  of  these  works 

*  From  the  mother  of  the  celebrated  Sir  William  Jones. 


GBAVEL.          I  147 

were  as  entirely  silent  upon  the  word  "  gravel" 
as  if  no  such  compound  existed.  At  length 
he  sought  his  father's  aid ;  and,  having  spread 
out  his  samples  on  the  grotto-table,  he  called 
his  brothers  and  sisters  to  join  them,  and 
related  his  unsuccessful  efforts  to  obtain  in- 
formation for  himself  upon  the  subject. 

Mr.  Goodman  told  him  that  he  had  not 
looked  under  the  right  head  for  information; 
for  that  "  gravel,"  though  the  common  name, 
is  not  a  scientific  appellation,  and  therefore 
not  used  by  the  learned  in  technical  works 
upon  mineralogy.  They  generally  term  it  allu- 
vium, diluvium,  or  detritus, — though,  as  seen 
in  some  large  gravel-pits  in  Kent,  England,  it 
was  natural  to  suppose  it  to  be  a  regular  form 
of  rock.  It  is  found  collected  into  certain  lo- 
calities ;  but,  if  examined,  it  will  easily  be  per- 
ceived that  it  consists  of  various  sorts  of  stones 
broken  into  fragments  and  then  rounded  by 
continual  rubbing  together  and  rolling  about. 
When  broken  with  the  hammer,  some  of  these 
stones  are  exactly  like  flint  inside,  often  yel- 
low; others  are  white  like  quartz,  or  red  like 
cornelian,  gray  like  slate,  and  even  variegated 
with  stripes  or  spots  like  the  agates  of  which 
brooches  are  made.  In  fact,  gravel  is  com- 


148  •          GRAVEL. 

posed  of  rounded  pieces  of  every  sort  of  hard 
rock  over  which  the  water  flows  which  forms 
the  river  in  the  bed  of  which  it  is  found.  If 
two  of  the  purest-looking  white  stones  from  a 
gravel-pit  be  rubbed  together  very  hard  in 
the  dark,  they  will  soon  be  seen  to  look  almost 
red-hot,  while  they  emit  a  peculiar  smell  of 
burning,  and  some  degree  of  heat.  These 
stones  are  common  amid  shingle-beaches;  and 
children  by  the  sea-side  often  pick  them  up 
and  amuse  themselves  by  rubbing  them  to- 
gether as  "  fire-stones/'  from  their  aspect  and 
effluvium.  Shingle  generally  has  a  gray 
tint,  and  gravel  a  yellow  hue;  and  though 
the  latter  is  found  quite  inland,  and  the  former 
on  the  coast,  both  have  been  rounded  and  de- 
posited much  in  the  same  way,  and  both  bear 
the  same  general  name  of  alluvium,  from  the 
Latin  word  alluo,  signifying  to  wash,  indi- 
cating the  fact  of  its  having  been  washed  into 
valleys  or  hollow  basins  by  water  afterwards 
drained  away,  or  evaporating  into  the  atmo- 
sphere. 

GRAVEL  evidently  has  originated  from  the 
ruin  of  other  rocks,  caused  by  the  action  of  the 
atmosphere,  or  rain  and  frost,  upon  such  rocks 
as  are  or  have  been  exposed  to  the  effects  of 


GRAVEL.  149 

weather;  for  it  is  found  chiefly  on  or  near 
the  surface  of  the  earth.  Gravel-beds  among 
lower  rocks  most  probably  originated  in  the 
same  way,  when  such  rocks  were  on  what 
was  then  the  surface  of  the  earth.  In  the 
midland  counties  of  England  there  are  vast 
accumulations  of  gravel,  composed  of  frag- 
ments of  nearly  every  sort  of  rock  existing  in 
the  country.  They  are  many  fathoms  deep  in 
some  places,  arid  in  others  so  heaped  up  as 
to  form  decided  hills.  They  are  so  extensive 
that  English  geologists  say  that  from  Leicester 
to  Lutterworth  the  traveller  passes  for  forty 
miles  over  one  continuous  gravel-bed.  All 
round  this  region  there  are  other  large  and 
distinct  gravel-beds,  and  many  hills  crowned 
with  it  where  other  substances  intervene. 
But  this  is  nothing  to  the  great  accumulations 
of  gravel  in  the  northern  regions  of  our  coun- 
try, especially  in  the  central  table-lands  and 
valleys  of  the  Eocky  Mountains,  where  the 
emigrant  trains  wander  for  weeks  over  a 
gravel  desert  formed  from  the  mountain  peaks 
and  ranges,  which  appear  at  intervals  as  if 
thrust  up  through  them  from  below. 

The  arctic  regions  are  covered  with  gravel, 

among  which  occur  large  boulders,  or  wander- 
is* 


150  GRAVEL. 

ing  rocks,  brought  to  their  places  by  ancient 
icebergs  when  the  ocean  was  above  the  land. 
And  this  "drift"  gravel,  or  "diluvium,"  as 
geologists  call  it,  comes  down  to  about  the 
latitude  of  40°  or  41°  in  the  Northern  United 
States, — covering  even  the  highest  parts  of  the 
Green  Mountains  of  Vermont  to  a  depth  of 
one  or  two  hundred  feet. 

Whole  cabinets  of  rocks  can  be  collected  out 
of  the  gravel.  It  is  asserted  by  English 
geologists  that  specimens  of  nearly  a  complete 
series  of  British  rocks  might  be  obtained  from 
the  gravel  in  the  valley  of  Shipston-on-Stour, 
near  Market  Harborough.  Large  boulders, 
or  round  masses  of  granite,  porphyry  and 
other  materials,  are  found  scattered  over  the 
plains  of  Germany  and  Russia,  so  far  from 
their  native  mountain-beds  that  they  must 
have  come  across  the  Baltic  when  frozen  fast 
in  the  bottom  of  floating  icebergs  from  the 
glaciers  of  Norway  and  Sweden.  Similar 
rocks  belonging  to  the  Alps  are  found  lying 
on  the  sides  of  the  Jura  Mountains,  having 
come  on  ice-glaciers  fifty  miles  across  the 
valley  of  Switzerland. 

Besides  these  comparatively  modern  gravel- 
beds,  there  are  ancient  beds  of  hardened 


GRAVEL.  151 

gravel  often  forced  up  into  nearly  vertical 
positions  by  some  convulsion  of  nature :  they 
are  called  conglomerates,  breccia,  or  pudding- 
stone.  In  these  the  gravel  is  cemented  by 
some  other  substance,  such  as  clay,  silex  or 
lime.  In  pudding-stone  the  fragments  are 
round,  and  coloured  much  like  the  English 
Christmas  pudding.  In  breccia  the  fragments 
are  angular.  The  conglomerate  under  the 
coal-measures  is  such  an  ancient  gravel,  but 
probably  made  by  the  sea-waves  upon  an 
ancient  beach. 

The  gravel  outside  the'  chalk-basin  around 
London  consists  principally  of  flints,  from 
which  the  chalk,  as  the  lighter  substance,  was 
carried  away  in  the  subsidence  of  the  waters. 
The  gravel-beds  of  Philadelphia  consist  of  the 
rounded  ruins  of  the  rocks  of  Chestnut  Hill, 
Fairmount  and  Gray's  Ferry.  Under  the 
microscope  it  is  plainly  seen  that  sand  con- 
sists of  flinty  materials  broken  up  into  still 
smaller  fragments.  Sometimes  one  material 
predominates,  or  some  metallic  oxide  mixes 
with  it,  producing  the  various-coloured  sands 
of  which  cliffs,  such  as  those  at  Fall  Eiver, 
Providence  and  other  New  England  places, 


152  GEAVEL. 

are  composed.  Flint  sand  is  valued  for  its 
vitrifying  or  glazing  qualities. 

Sand  lines  the  shores  and  forms  the  beds  of 
most  rivers,  from  the  gradual  accumulation 
of  alluvial  deposit  from  the  land  through 
which  they  pass.  The  river-floods  carry  a 
great  deal  out  at  their  mouths  to  the  sea,  so 
as  by  degrees  to  extend  the  shores.  Thus,  in 
the  Lake  of  Geneva  the  Rhone  has  formed  a 
delta  two  miles  long  and  nine  hundred  feet 
thick,  during  the  last  eight  hundred  years ; 
and  another  delta  has  been  formed  by  the 
same  river  on  the  shores  of  the  Mediterranean 
Sea,  which  has  now  become  a  solid  limestone 
rock. 

Alice  asked  what  the  delta  of  a  river  was. 

Mr.  Goodman  explained  that  the  heap  of 
sand,  mud  or  gravel  which  gradually  accu- 
mulates at  its  mouth  sometimes  takes  a  three- 
cornered  shape,  resembling  the  Greek  letter 
delta,  (J,)  and  is  thence  called  by  its  name. 
The  formation  of  a  delta  at  the  mouth  of  any 
tiny  rivulet  which  flows  into  a  stagnant  pool 
may  be  watched,  and  many  interesting  facts 
in  physical  geography  may  be  learned  from 
such  an  amusement.  The  delta  of  the  Missis- 
sippi has  advanced  several  leagues  since  the 


DELTAS.  153 

city  of  New  Orleans  was  built  at  the  mouth 
of  the  river,  and,  not  having  had  time  to  drain, 
or  dry  by  evaporation,  it  is  still  the  "  dismal 
swamp."  During  two  thousand  years  the 
land  has  gained  at  the  mouth  of  the  river  Po 
eighteen  miles,  extending  also  on  either  side 
one  hundred  miles  along  the  coast. 

History  mentions  the  condition  of  many 
rivers  at  different  periods,  and  modern  science 
can  judge  of  the  Mississippi  by  examining  the 
locality,  the  evidence  of  fresh  deposits  is  so 
clear.  Thus,  the  delta  of  the  Ganges  begins 
two  hundred  and  twenty  miles  away  from  the 
sea,  while  the  waters  of  the  ocean  are  made 
muddy  by  the  matter  carried  out  for  sixty 
miles  from  the  shore.  The  delta  of  the  Niger 
extends  so  far  every  way  as  to  form  an  area 
of  twenty-five  thousand  square  miles.  The 
immense  alluvium  still  depositing  by  the 
rivers  Amazon  and  Orinoco  is  chiefly  swept 
away  by  the  Gulf  Stream  in  a  northerly  direc- 
tion. The  waters  of  the  Amazon  show  this 
so  distinctly  that  they  can  be  distinguished 
from  the  ocean  three  hundred  miles  from  the 
coast. 

The  quantity  of  sediment  brought  down  by 
the  river  Ganges  every  year  amounts  to  more 


154  GRAVEL. 

than  six  thousand  millions  of  tons, — sixty 
times  the  estimated  weight  of  the  great  pyramid 
of  Egypt.  This  at  first  sight  appears  impos- 
sible :  yet  it  will  be  credible  on  considering 
the  very  careful  experiments  that  were  made 
to  ascertain  how  much  solid  matter  was  car- 
ried past  one  city  by  a  single  river  in  a  year. 
By  careful  watching  for  a  fixed  period,  Dr. 
Dana  found  that  the  river  Merrimack,  in 
Massachusetts,  carried  past  the  city  of  Lowell, 
in  the  year  1838,  so  much,  that  if  all  the  sedi- 
ment had  been  anthracite  coal,  such  as  is 
used  in  the  Lowell  print-works,  there  would 
have  been  an  annual  supply  of  five  thousand 
tons  for  one  hundred  and  ninety-seven  years. 
The  Ganges  is  a  much  larger  river,  possessing 
many  mouths:  so  that,  if  one  river  carried 
down  so  much  past  a  single  point,  it  is  not 
surprising  that  the  Ganges  should  deposit  at 
its  mouth  a  much  greater  quantity.  This 
amazing  amount  of  sediment,  or  alluvium,  to 
be  exact,  finds  its  way  into  these  rivers  by 
means  of  heat,  cold,  and  water  in  its  various 
conditions  of  fluid,  ice  and  steam,  all  helping 
the  process  of  breaking  up  soil  and  rock, — 
sometimes  acting  separately,  sometimes  con- 
jointly. Thus,  the  heat  of  the  sun  continually 


ALLUVIUM.  155 

crumbles  up  the  surface  of  the  earth.  The 
most  casual  observer  must  have  noticed  how 
the  soil  dries  to  powder  in  the  sunshine  during 
very  warm  weather;  and  we  read  of  the  same 
effect  in  Iceland  from  the  heat  under  ground 
near  Mount  Hecla. 

When  rain  comes7  this  powder  is  easily 
washed  down  into  the  mountain-streams, 
which,  rushing  along  some  steep  descent,  wear 
away  harder  rocks.  The  same  thing  is  ac- 
complished by  "  ice-freshets."  It  is  impos- 
sible for  any  one  who  has  not  witnessed  the 
breaking  up  of  one  of  these  frozen  streams 
in  the  spring — when  for  many  miles  the 
whole  channel  becomes  literally  choked  with 
ice — to  form  an  adequate  idea  of  the  im- 
mense excavating  force  it  exerts,  scooping  out 
huge  caves,  and  whirling  round  hollows,  so 
that  the  approach  of  such  a  laden  torrent  is 
justly  dreaded  both  by  man  and  beast.  It 
must  be  remembered  that  most  rocks  lose 
one-third  of  their  weight  in  water,  and  when 
ice  is  frozen  round  them  they  are  easily 
moved. 

Water  is  a  powerful  agent  in  producing 
gravel  and  sand,  as  it  acts  upon  hard  rocks 
both  chemically  and  mechanically.  Chemi- 


156  GBAVEL. 

cally,  it  dissolves  some  of  the  substances  they 
contain  and  renders  the  mass  loose  and  porous ; 
mechanically,  it  gets  between  the  particles  and 
forces  them  asunder,  so  that  they  are  more 
easily  worn  away  by  any  current  passing  over 
them.  Then,  as  water  expands  in  freezing, 
frosts  still  more  effectually  separate  the  frag- 
ments, till  year  after  year  this  gradually  pre- 
pares abundant  material  for  torrents  to  carry 
off  to  the  gravel-bed,  or  for  land-slips. 

At  Dover  the  chalk  cliffs  are  perpetually 
giving  way,  from  the  sea  undermining  them 
below,  or  the  frost  detaching  large  masses 
from  above,  which  occasionally  do  much 
damage  in  their  fall.  Two  ladies,  on  one  oc- 
casion, had  been  quietly  resting  in  a  large 
cave  only  one-quarter  of  an  hour  before  it  was 
filled  up  by  a  mass  of  many  tons'  weight, 
which  fell  with  a  noise  resembling  distant 
thunder.  Their  father  had  heard  the  noise, 
and,  knowing  their  habits,  went  to  seek  them ; 
and  they  all  returned  to  the  scene  of  devasta- 
tion, feeling  deep  gratitude  to  God,  who  had 
preserved  them  from  a  danger  that  they  had 
not  contemplated.  Truly,  we  may  rejoice 
that  "he  is  ever  about  our  paths."  In  the 
churchyard  of  the  same  town,  a  tombstone  still 


GLACIERS.  157 

tells  of  a  whole  family  killed  by  a  mass  of  chalk 
cliff,  which  crushed  the  house  and  filled  up  the 
garden,  like  the  avalanches  we  read  of  in  the 
Alps,  composed  of  snow  mixed  with  detached 
earth  and  stones  and  ice.  They  are  often 
much  larger  than  our  land-slips,  so  as  to  bury 
several  villages  and  thousands  of  people  in  a 
moment.  The  glaciers  are  rivers  of  ice  rest- 
ing in  the  higher  valleys  of  mountain  regions 
and  slowly  flowing  down  towards  the  lower 
valleys,  where  they  continually  melt  and  a 
river  of  cold  water  flows  from  a  cavern  at  the 
end,  while  all  the  rocks  which  have  fallen 
from  the  mountain-sides  upon  the  ice  in  the 
bed  of  the  valley  are  carried  down  upon  its 
back  and  tumbled  off,  one  by  one,  at  its  end, 
forming  piles  of  rubbish,  sometimes  hundreds 
of  feet  high,  called  "  terminal  moraines."  As 
the  ice-river  slowly  moves  along  around  the 
points  of  the  mountain-sides,  it  cracks  and 
gapes  in  hideous  crevasses,  down  which  the 
stories  fall ;  but,  as  the  surface  of  the  glacier 
is  always  melting,  these  stones  re-appear  a 
mile  or  two  farther  on.  As  they  protect  the 
ice  with  their  shadow,  they  are  soon  mounted 
on  pedestals  of  ice,  which  get  so  high  at  last 
that  they  melt  through  and  the  stone  falls 

14 


158  GRAVEL. 

down  again.  Thus  these  rocks  are  forever 
falling  into  the  cracks  of  the  ice  and  mounting 
on  pedestals  of  ice,  until,  after  many  years,  they 
get  to  the  end  of  their  journey,  and  tumble  over 
the  edge  of  the  glacier  into  the  valley  below. 
At  the  bottom  and  sides  of  the  glacier,  frag- 
ments of  rock  and  pebbles  frozen  into  it  pro- 
duce the  effects  of  a  huge  rasp,  crushing  and 
grinding  every  thing  over  which  it  passes, 
and  scratching  the  harder  rocks  in  every 
direction,  as  travellers  may  easily  perceive. 
The  glaciers  of  Viesch,  Aletsch  and  others  in 
the  Alps,  are  full  of  fragments  of  rock  which 
are  perpetually  preparing  gravel. 

From  all  these  causes  it  may  be  easily  un- 
derstood how  sand  and  gravel  come  on  the 
land  and  the  sea-beach,  and,  when  it  is  car- 
ried out  to  sea;  how  in  time  it  fills  up  parts 
of  the  ocean  and  forms  new  land.  Accord- 
ingly, we  find  this  is  the  case  not  only  at  the 
mouths  of  rivers,  but  on  coasts  where  the 
wind  blows  chiefly  on  shore  or  where  currents 
set  one  way.  The  waves  wash  up  immense 
quantities  of  sand  and  gravel,  so  as  to  fill  up 
harbours  or  raise  a  bar  across  them.  The 
waves,  in  a  single  storm,  are  sometimes  so 
powerful  as  to  wash  up  large  boulders,  which 


DOWNS.  159 

lie  in  a  row  on  the  shore.  These  form 
rather  a  protection  against  future  storms, — 
as  we  are  told  in  the  Bible  that  God  him- 
self "  placed  the  sand  for  the  bound  of  the 
sea  by  a  perpetual  decree,  that  it  cannot  pass 
it:  and  though  the  waves  thereof  toss  them- 
selves, yet  can  they  not  prevail;  though  they 
roar,  yet  can  they  not  pass  over  it."  (Jer.  v. 
22.)  Extraordinary  tides  often  carry  sand 
and  gravel  too  high  on  the  beach  to  be  reached 
by  the  usual  tides :  this  leaves  time  for  the 
sand  to  dry,  and,  being  carried  inland  by 
every  favourable  sea-breeze, — land-winds  being 
too  feeble  to  send  it  back  again, — the  sand  falls, 
and  gradually  becomes  a  formidable  enemy, 
overwhelming  fertile  fields,  filling  up  rivers 
and  burying  villages.  Hence  the  dunes,  or 
downs,  common  in  every  part  of  the  world, 
and  of  which  we  will  speak  again  by-and-by. 
In  Michigan  there  are  ranges  of  sand-hills 
along  the  shores  of  the  great  lakes  from  one 
to  two  hundred  feet  in  height.  The  sands  of 
the  Libyan  Desert,  driven  by  the  west  wind, 
have  encroached  upon  the  valley  of  the  Nile 
so  as  to  cover  over  the  ancient  cities  of  Egypt 
and  half  bury  up  the  greatest  temples  that 
men  have  ever  erected.  Belzoni  and  the 


160  GRAVEL. 

French,  English  and  Prussian  savans  who  fol- 
lowed him  in  his  explorations,  have  un- 
covered a  multitude  of  temples,  rock  tombs 
and  statues  from  the  sand,  which  has  pro- 
tected these  remains  of  a  remote  antiquity 
from  destruction,  and  thus  enabled  us  to 
read  the  history  of  the  oldest  civilization  the 
world  has  ever  seen.  The  whole  west  side  of 
the  Nile  has  been  rendered  one  vast,  barren 
waste,  except  in  a  few  sheltered  spots  known 
as  oases.  That  these  wastes  were  once  popu- 
lous is  evident  from  the  numerous  remains  of 
ancient  temples,  palaces,  cities  and  villages 
still  to  be  found  there.  Light  as  the  sand- 
grains  are,  each  by  itself  and  carried  by  the 
wind,  yet  so  heavy  do  they  weigh  when  all 
combined  that  their  accumulation  has  proved 
an  effectual  weapon  of  God's  wrath  in  burying 
the  rebellious  cities  of  Babylon,  Nineveh  and 
others,  whose  very  names  would  be  lost  but 
for  their  record  in  the  roll  of  the  prophet, 
whose  messages  of  mercy  to  the  penitent  were 
despised  and  laughed  at  in  the  days  of  pros- 
perity. As  a  foundation  it  is  so  unstable 
that  our  Lord  compares  the  careless  hearer 
of  his  word  to  a  foolish  man  building  his 
house  upon  the  sand, — resting  his  soul  for 


COLUMN  OF  SLAG   AT  VESUVIUS. 


Opp.  p.  161. 


.  SHOALS.  161 

peace,  perhaps,  on  temporal  prosperity.  But 
when  the  rain  of  God's  wrath  descends,  and 
the  wind  of  his  scrutiny  blows,  and  beats  upon 
the  house  to  try  its  security,  it  falls,  and  great 
must  be  its  fall. 

In  the  waters  of  the  sea  the  sand  and  gravel 
obey  the  direction  of  the  currents  and  tides. 
The  Gulf  Stream,  sweeping  along  the  Atlantic 
coast  from  between  Cuba  and  Florida  past  Cape 
Hatteras,  in  Virginia,  and  Cape  Cod,  in  Mas- 
sachusetts, turns  all  the  sand-bars  which  form 
at  the  mouths  of  our  rivers  and  at  the  ends 
of  GUI'  bays  into  hooks,  towards  the  north, 
— such  as  Paulus  Hook  and  Marcus  Hook, 
and  Cape  Cod  itself,  the  end  of  which,  as  you 
can  see  upon  the  map,  curls  round  upon  the 
harbour  of  Hingham  like  the  end  of  the  suck- 
ing-tube or  proboscis  of  a  butterfly.  The 
tides,  rushing  every  day  twice  to-  and  fro 
along  the  coast  and  among  the  islands,  arrange 
the  larger  gravel  and  cobble  stones  in  lines 
or  ridges  at  the  bottom  of  the  sea  for  some 
miles'  distance  out,  forming  shoals.  In  Mas- 
sachusetts, as  in  other  parts  of  the  world, 
such  long  and  regular  hills  of  gravel,  called 
"  osars"  in  Sweden,  are  seen  upon  the  dry 
land  back  from  the  coast.  This  is  one  of  the 

L  14* 


162  GRAVEL. 

proofs  we  have  that  the  land  has  risen  out  of 
the  sea  in  former  times. 

The  struggle  between  the  sand  of  the  sea 
and  the  cultivated  fields  of  the  farmer  goes 
on  everywhere.  The  people  who  live  along 
Cape  God  have  their  farms  'continually  strewn 
with  sand.  In  England,  there  is  a  part  of 
the  Channel  off  the  coast  of  Kent  called  the 
Downs,  a  roadstead  quite  in  the  sea ;  and  these 
Downs  were  formerly  land,  overwhelmed  first 
by  sand,  and  now  by  sea.  The  Goodwin  Sands, 
lying  outside  or  eastward  of  the  Downs,  were 
actually  part  of  Earl  Godwin's  landed  estates 
within  a  comparatively  recent  period,  and  are 
still  dry  at  every  low  tide. 

All  around  the  Bay  of  Biscay  a  similar 
encroachment  is  going  on.  Numbers  of  vil- 
lages have  already  been  destroyed,  and  towns 
are  now  threatened  by  sand-hills  moving 
towards  them  at  the  rate  of  sixty  or  seventy 
feet  annually.  In  Cornwall,  the  church  and 
village  of  Piran  Zabuloe  were  buried  so  long 
ago  as  to  have  left  no  records  but  the  ruins 
of  the  church  itself  and  the  traditions  pre- 
served in  the  neighbourhood. 

These  gradual  deposits  of  sand  often  alter 
the  course  of  rivers :  thus,  in  the  short  space 


BARS.  163 

of  eleven  years,  the  head  of  the  river  Jellinghi, 
in  India,  was  removed  three-quarters  of  a  mile 
farther  down.  The  junction  of  the  river 
Cosa  (as  large  as  the  Rhine)  with  the  Ganges 
has  been  moved  forty -five  miles. 

The  waves  of  the  sea  must  be  very  power- 
ful ;  for  the  bar  of  shingle  at  Dover  Harbour 
comes  back  every  tide,  notwithstanding  all 
the  pains  that  are  taken  to  wash  it  away  by 
sluices.  On  this  account  an  officer  is  always 
appointed  to  watch  the  mouth  of  the  harbour, 
and  guide  vessels  in,  as  the  shape  and  direction, 
as  well  as  the  height,  of  the  bar,  are  perpetually 
changing.  The  waves  of  the  ocean  are  irre- 
sistible when  driven  by  a  furious  wind.  The 
granite  blocks  built  into  the  foundations  of  the 
breakwater  at  Cape  Henlopen,  at  the  mouth 
of  Delaware  Bay,  were  tossed  about  during  a 
great  storm  in  the  wildest  disorder.  And 
when  the  Plymouth  Breakwater,  in  England, 
was  being  constructed,  some  heavy  gales  oc- 
curred, during  which  huge  blocks  of  granite 
and  limestone,  weighing  from  two  to  five  tons 
each,  were  washed  about  like  pebbles.  Three 
kundred  such  were  borne  a  distance  of  two 
hundred  feet,  and  even  up  the  inclined  plane 
of  the  breakwater.  Some  were  carried  quite 


164  GEAVEL. 

over  it,  and  scattered  in  all  directions ;  and 
one  block,  weighing  seven  tons,  was  carried 
one  hundred  and  fifty  feet:  so  that  it  is  no 
wonder  that  sand  and  gravel  should  be  carried 
about  by  the  wind  and  waves  together. 

The  changes  made  by  floods  of  the  present 
day  on  the  surface  of  the  land  suggest  that 
many  of  the  peculiarities  of  different  coun- 
tries have  had  a  similar  origin.  For  example, 
accumulations  of  drift,  found  in  many  hilly 
regions  far  from  the  sea,  consist  of  sand, 
gravel,  and  even  large  masses  or  boulders 
brought  some  distance  from  the  gravel-pits, 
and  sand-hills,  or  rocky  mountains  to  which 
they  belong.  Boulders  seem  to  have  drifted 
from  the  north  several  hundred  miles  in  a 
southerly  direction,  and  to  have  been  carried 
beyond  mountains  one  or  two  thousand  feet 
high,  as  in  Massachusetts,  Maine  and  Nova 
Scotia.  There  are  boulders  which  have  been 
torn  from  the  Green  Mountains  of  Ver- 
mont, now  lying  high  up  upon  the  flanks  of 
the  White  Mountains  of  New  Hampshire. 
Each  of  the  mountain-ridges  of  New  England 
furnishes  boulders  for  the  country  to  the  soutlv- 
east  of  it.  In  Eastern  New  York  there  are 
trains  of  boulders  running  in  nearly  straight 


BOULDERS.  165 

lines  across  valleys  of  limestone  from  notches 
in  the  sandstone  mountains  to '  the  west  of 
them ;  and  some  geologists  suppose  these  notches 
to  have  been  made  by  great  icebergs,  and  these 
trains  of  boulders  by  great  eddies  or  whirlpools 
behind  them.  On  the  Highlands  west  of  the 
Hudson,  in  Orange  county,  great  boulders  of 
gneiss  are  to  be  seen  laid,  as  if  by  the  hands 
of  man,  upon  smaller  stones  of  limestone  full 
of  shells,  which  must  have  come  up  from  the 
valleys  lying  to  the  north.  How  this  delicate 
operation  has  been  performed  is  one  of  the 
secrets  of  nature. 

In  Europe,  the  Netherlands,  Denmark,  the 
plains  of  Germany,  Poland  ana  Eussia,  are 
strewed  over  with  boulders  and  pebbles,  which 
can  be  traced  to  their  parent  rocks  in  Sweden, 
Lapland  and  Finland,  in  which  countries  they 
are  still  more  numerous.  To  reach  these 
localities  they  must  have  crossed  the  region 
now  occupied  by  the  Baltic  Sea.  Wherever 
there  are  boulders  it  is  observed  that  they  de- 
crease in  quantity  as  the  distance  from  their 
former  homes  increases.  Near  Beyrout,  in 
Syria,  at  the  foot  of  the  Himalaya  Mountains, 
in  India,  and  near  Mount  Atlas,  in  Africa, 
similar  boulders  are  observed,  which  have 


166  GRAVEL. 

somehow  or  other  wandered  from  their  native 
regions,  just  as  the  drift-wood  from  warmer 
countries  is  now  carried  to  the  shores  of  the 
arctic  regions  by  ocean-currents,  for  the 
benefit  of  the  Esquimaux,  who  could  other- 
wise procure  no  wood.  The  largest  propor- 
tion of  the  Northern  hemisphere  is  covered 
with  a  crust  of  sand,  gravel  and  boulders  vary- 
ing in  thickness  from  a  few  inches  to  two  hun- 
dred feet ;  and  scarcely  any  mountains  are  en- 
tirely free  from  this  geological  drift :  sometimes 
very  large  blocks  are  poised  upon  their  summits. 
In  Switzerland,  some  of  the  largest  blocks 
which  have  crossed  from  the  Alps  over  to  the 
Jura  lie  curiously  poised  upon  peaks.  This  was 
accounted  for  on  the  supposition  that  they  had 
been  placed  there  by  men ;  but  a  different  cause 
has  been  suggested,  which  supposes  them  to 
Lave  come  over  upon  the  surface  of  ice ;  and  a 
learned  geologist  has  explained  how  the  sun's 
rays  would  heat  the  rock  of  the  peak,  and  melt 
a  funnel  through  the  ice  above  it,  down  into  the 
centre  of  which  would  slide  any  boulder  which 
happened  to  be  near  enough  upon  the  ice,  and 
would,  of  course,  settle  precisely  upon  the  peak. 
In  New  England,  all  the  surface-rocks  which 
peep  above  the  soil  and  the  covering  of  drift  are 


BOULDERS.  167 

rounded,  polished  and  scratched  by  the  boulders 
when  they  were  moving  to  their  present  places. 
These  boulders  are  of  every  size.  The  word 
signifies  a  large  round  stone  that  could  be 
bowled  along  by  a  sufficient  force ;  and  there- 
fore a  fixed  rock  ought  not  to  be  so  called. 
Boulders  differ  in  weight:  the  one  used  as  a 
pedestal  for  the  equestrian  statue  of  Peter  the 
Great  at  Petersburgh  weighs  fifteen  hundred 
tons,  but  weighed  much  more  before  the  artist 
had  the  bad  taste  to  cut  it  down  from  its  ori- 
ginal native  form  to  an  artificial  shape,  which  he 
thought  finer,  but  which  has  in  fact  destroyed 
much  of  its  sublimity.  It  was  brought  over 
marshes  nearly  a  hundred  miles,  on  cannon- 
balls  for  wheels,  over  a  road  made  expressly 
for  the  occasion, —  and  reminds  us  of  the 
moving,  in  ancient  days,  of  those  great  obe- 
lisks and  statues  of  one  stone  from  the  Egyp- 
tian quarries,  to  the  cities  along  the  Nile. 
Some  boulders  are  called  rocking  stones,  when, 
as  seems  most  probable,  streams  of  water  have 
removed  the  sand  and  gravel  which  accom- 
panied them,  and  they  remain  poised  so  evenly 
upon  a  single  point  that  the  slightest  touch 
will  set  them  rocking.  Such  are  termed,  in 
England,  logging  or  Logan  stones,  and  are 


168  GEAVEL. 

not  uncommon  in  Cornwall ;  and  very  large 
ones  are  found  in  Massachusetts.  Another 
name  for  them  in  the  south  of  England  is 
Ambrose  stones;  and  in  that  and  many  other 
countries  ignorant  people  say  that  they  were 
giants,  turned  into  rocks  for  their  wicked- 
ness. Stories  of  this  kind  are  common  as  far 
east  as  Persia. 

Sand  and  gravel  are  more  frequently  found 
in  valleys.  This  would  be  expected,  from  their 
being  produced  by  water  wearing  away  rocks 
and  then  carrying  the  detached  pieces  to 
their  destination  by  storms  or  torrents;  and 
so  it  is  really  found  to  be.  In  the  valleys  of 
the  Alps,  and  especially  near  the  gorges,  de- 
files, or  openings  from  one  valley  into  another, 
sand  and  gravel  accumulate  into  mounds  and 
ridges, — straight,  curved  and  crooked, — called 
moraines,  as  I  have  explained  before.  But  in 
the  true  drift  we  see  successive  strata,  or  layers, 
of  sand,  gravel  and  clay,  as  if  floods  had  oc- 
curred at  different  times,  each  leaving  sedi- 
ment behind  it.  Occasionally,  beds  of  gravel 
are  found  resting  upon  successive  beds  of  lava, 
each  exhibiting  evidence  of  a  different  and 
older  age  than  those  above  it;  and  in  such 
cases  the  gravel  consists  partly  of  fragments  of 


GKAVEL.  169 

lava  torn  from  the  beds  below.  Such  "volcanic 
breccias/'  as  they  are  called,  are  common  in 
Auvergne,  in  Central  France.  Among  the  old- 
est rocks  are  similar  conglomerates  and  brec- 
cias, proving  that  the  same  laws  of  destruction 
and  re-formation  have  always  operated  which 
we  see  performing  all  these  wonders  in  our 
own  day.  And  the  most  gigantic  marks 
of  destruction  show  the  goodness  of  God;  for 
thus  the  earth  has  been  prepared  for  the  use 
and  happiness  of  man.  It  is  this  universal 
tearing  to  pieces  of  the  rocks,  and  distribution 
of  their  sand  and  clay  in  loams  of  all  kind, 
that  has  made  most  of  the  earth's  surface  so 
fertile.  The  hard  surfaces  of  marble,  granite 
and  flint  are  perfectly  barren  till  the  surface 
is  broken  up  or  mouldered  by  the  atmo- 
sphere sufficiently  to  hold  moisture.  The 
very  fertile  spots  are  generally  where  one 
soil  joins  another,,  so  as  to  mingle  together. 
And  the  most  fertile  of  all  are  where  all  the 
ingredients  of  all  the  rocks  are  combined,  in 
the  rich  bottom-lands  of  modern  river-valleys, 
or  in  the  black  soil  of  the  steppes  of  Southern 
Russia,  the  pampas  of  South  America  or  the 
prairies  of  our  West. 

15 


170  CHALK. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

CHALK  —  CORAL  —  MAGNESIA  —  ASBESTOS  — 
MOULD. 

THERE  is  no  true  chalk  in  America, — al- 
though we  have  the  so-called  "  cretaceous" 
or  chalk  formation  all  along  the  Atlantic  sea- 
board and  on  both  sides  of  the  Eocky  Moun- 
tains. So,  when  the  subject  of  the  nature  of 
chalk  was  broached,  in  one  of  their  conversa- 
tions in  the  grotto,  by  Edward, — as  he  stood 
scraping  a  piece  with  his  knife  and  catching 
the  soft,  white  powder  on  a  newspaper,  while 
he  picked  out  small  specks  of  flint  or  crystals 
of  silex  from  it  now  and  then,  and  wondered 
how  they  came  there, — he  called  upon  his 
uncle  to  explain.  For,  like  most  things  with 
which  we  are  familiar  from  infancy,  chalk  had 
never  excited  Edward's  attention,  till,  when 
old  enough  to  travel,  he  had  observed  its 
absence  from  the  rocks  which  he  was  accus- 
tomed to  see  and  examine  in  his  daily  walks. 


CHALK:.  171 

He  began,  therefore,  to  examine  it  more  par- 
ticularly, and  to  try  various  experiments  with 
the  largest  blocks  of  it  he  could  get,  in  moulding 
and  cutting  it  into  shape,  but  soon  found  it  was 
too  soft  for  such  purposes.  He  marvelled 
that,  with  all  the  pains  he  took,  his  little 
chalk  bridges  and  houses  were  washed  away 
by  the  rain,  or  crumbled  and  were  blown 
away  during  hot  weather  and  high  winds. 
He  had  heard  his  uncle  say  that,  in  the  parts 
of  England  and  France  where  chalk  is  the 
common  rock  and  forms  the  soil  of  the  coun- 
try, the  roads  look  as  white  as  if  covered 
with  snow,  while  the  short  grass  on  the  hills 
appears  powdered  with  flour.  In  winter  the 
mud  is  white,  and  in  summer  the  dust  wears 
the  same  hue, — which  nevertheless  soils  all 
coloured  dress  and  furniture  as  much  as  dirtier 
substances  would.  Huge  masses  are  detached 
from  the  cliffs  whenever  heavy  rains  or  long 
frosts  prevail,  while  chalk-pits  abound  in  the 
neighbourhood  for  supplying  the  demands  of 
commerce.  He  wondered  how  these  chalk 
cliffs  and  hills  could  have  stood  for  so  many 
ages,  and  that  the  fortifications  of  cities — 
Dover,  for  example — could  be  built  of  chalk, 
and  stand  in  spite  of  rain  and  wind. 


172  CHALK. 

"  No,"  said  his  uncle :  "you  are  wrong  there. 
For  these  cliffs  do  not  stand  firmly  when  ex- 
posed to  the  influence  of  weather.  It  may  be 
seen  how  perpetually  they  are  giving  way, 
and  changing  their  shape  by  the  fall  of  large 
masses:  it  is  only  where  protected  by  the 
intertwining  fibres  of  short,  grassy  turf  that 
chalk  seems  to  hold  together  at  all;  and  the 
outside  chalk  of  the  fortifications  is  protected 
in  the  same  manner.  The  fortifications  them- 
selves consist  really  of  solid  masonry,  which  is 
only  covered  with  chalk  to  break,  as  with  a 
soft  cushion,  the  force  of  cannon-balls." 

"But  what  is  the  material  of  chalk?"  asked 
Edward;  "and  is  it  an  old  rock?"  For  he 
had  come  to  know  that  in  the  geology  of  the 
earth  there  was  a  great  difference  in  the  age 
of  the  rocks. 

"Chalk,"  replied  his  father,  "has  received 
much  attention  from  geologists,  differing  as  it 
does  so  much  from  most  rocks.  Chemically, 
it  consists  of  carbonate  of  lime,  or  a  mixture 
of  the  metal  calcium,  the  gas  oxygen,  and 
the  same  substance  which  forms  charcoal, 
— carbon.  It  is  considered  to  be  one  of  the 
newest  or  most  recently-deposited  rocks, — 
older  than  the  tertiary  and  drift,  of  which  we 


CHAL2.  173 

spoke  in  the  last  chapter,  but  much  later  than 
the  coal-formation.  To  speak  very  accurately, 
chalk,  with  its  attendant  strata,  occupies  a 
space  between  the  clay,  sand  and  gravel  of 
the  tertiary  strata  and  the  series  of  strata 
called  oolites.  It  abounds  with  fossil  organic 
remains  of  marine  plants  and  animals,  as  well 
as  the  flints  already  noticed,  in  regular  lines. 
Iron  pyrites  seem  to  be  its  only  metal.  It 
has  a  whole  world  of  fossil  animals  of  its 
own.  Considered  as  a  rock,  it  has  been 
deposited  in  lakes,  or  small  seas,  or  estua- 
ries running  up  from  the  ocean,  which  have 
been  thus  filled  up  and  are  now  lifted  above 
the  sea-level  and  form  dry  land.  Such  is  the 
great  chalk-basin  of  Northern  France  and 
Southern  England,  cut  in  two  by  the  Straits 
of  Dover.  Here  the  chalk  is  best  known  and 
has  been  most  closely  studied.  But  it  occurs 
in  Spain  and  other  parts  of  the  south  and  east 
of  Europe,  in  Sweden,  Poland  and  Eussia,  in 
the  island  of  Crete,  where  it  got  its  ancient 
Latin  name  of  Creta,  and  in  Mount  Lebanon 
in  Palestine.  In  South  America  there  is  a 
quantity  of  fine  white  marl  in  some  respects 
resembling  the  lower  chalk-formation,  by 
which  phrase  is  meant  the  strata  or  beds  of 

15* 


174  CHALK. 

material  which  lie  lowest,  and  are  generally 
harder  and  more  compact  than  the  upper 
portion.  It  has  also  been  found  in  the  western 
parts  of  the  United  States.  In  England,  where 
it  is  cut  through  by  the  Channel,  its  long 
white  cliffs  are  supposed  to  have  suggested  to 
the  Romans  the  name  which  they  gave  that 
island, — Albion,  from  albus,  white ;  and  it  is 
said  that  in  the  ancient  religious  books  of  the 
Hindoos  -an  island  is  mentioned  as  the  white 
island,  the  island  of  the  blessed."  Some  have 
thought  that  the  same  island  is  meant. 

In  common  language,  chalk  is  called  an 
earth,  and  its  origin  for  a  long  time  puzzled 
inquirers;  but  the  microscope  has  led  to  the 
interesting  discovery  that  it  consists  for  the 
most  part  of  the  decomposed  shells  of  multi- 
tudes of  insects,  so  small  as  to  be  invisible 
to  the  naked  eye.  More  than  ten  millions  of 
perfect  forms  have  been  observed  in  a  single 
pound  of  chalk,  besides  innumerable  frag- 
ments. 

Edward  remarked  that  that  seemed  almost 
like  the  product  of  the  coral- workers.  Mr. 
Goodman  explained  that  chalk  is  made  up 
chiefly  of  minute  separate  shells,  while  coral 
is  the  secretion  of  continuous  stony  matter  for 


CHALK.  175 

the  habitations  of  the  insects.  Chemically, 
the  particles  of  chalk  and  coral  are  differently 
combined.  The  shells  of  nearly  four  hundred 
different  varieties  of  insects  now  living  have 
been  already  distinguished  in  the  pure  white 
chalk  which  abounds  in  England,  many  of 
which  are  identical  with  those  observed  in  the 
coral  shores  of  the  Red  Sea.  In  chalk-mar^ 
and  coarse  chalk,  numbers  of  these  shells  are 
quite  perfect,  and  can  be  separated,  by  soak- 
ing the  chalk  in  water,  sufficiently  to  show 
them  under  a  powerful  microscope;  but  the 
finer  the  chalk  is  the  more  are  the  shells 
broken  and  decomposed,  till,  in  the  best  close 
writing-chalk,  comparatively  few  are  whole. 

When  chalk  is  put  into  water,  it  seems  at 
first  to  melt  and  make  the  water  milky,  and 
some  portion  of  the  most  dusty,  decayed  mass 
does  no  doubt  combine  with  the  water;  but  it 
generally  settles  as  a  sediment ;  and  by  brush- 
ing a  piece  of  chalk  under  water,  Professor 
Ehrenberg  easily  secured  many  specimens 
both  of  the  bryozoa,  or  moss  animals,  and  the 
polythalmia,  or  many-celled  infusoria,  which 
he  found  still  living  in  the  waters  of  Cux- 
haven. 

Some  chalk  looks  so  regularly  grained  that, 


176  CHALK. 

without  minute  investigation,  we  should  almost 
fancy  it  was  crystallized;  and  perhaps  it  is 
nearly  so:  at  least,  the  decomposed  particles 
of  shell  are  ranged  in  regular  order  and  even- 
looking  laminae,  though  not  quite  so  tho- 
roughly united  as  they  would  have  been  if 
they  had  been  crystallized  in  the  manner  of 
glass  or  rock-salt.  It  is  rather  curious  that 
the  chalk-beds  of  the  south  of  Europe  exhibit 
more  well-preserved  chalk  animalcula  and 
less  of  the  crystallized-looking  laminae  or 
grains,  while  in  the  north  and  east  of  Europe 
the  chalk  has  more  laminae  and  fewer  perfect 
remains.  There  is  a  remarkable  difference 
also  in  the  presence  or  absence  of  flints  in 
chalk.  In  the  south  of  Europe  they  are  quite 
absent,  and  instead  there  are  beds  of  marl 
composed  entirely  of  the  siliceous  or  flinty 
shells  of  infusoria. 

It  seerns  surprising  to  think  of  such  pretty 
white  chalk  cliffs  being  made  of  old  shells ;  but 
yet  it  may  be  noticed  that  shells  powder  into 
a  very  white,  chalky  sort  of  dust;  and  some 
people  content  themselves  with  the  thought 
that  this  is  because  they  are  partly  made  of 
chalk.  Chalk,  however,  properly  so  called, 
seems  to  have  been  the  result  of  some  animal 


CHALK.  177 

process  during  the  little  creature's  lifetime,  or 
the  action  of  carbonic  acid  derived  from  the 
atmosphere;  and  it  certainly  may  be  called 
"the  dust  of  death/'  as  truly  as  the  black 
animal  mould  discovered  elsewhere  with  fossil 
remains  of  larger  size.  The  varieties  of  chalk 
seem  also  in  some  measure  to  depend  on  the 
sort  of  animalcula  which  most  predominated. 
There  seems  no  reason  to  doubt  that  chalk 
is  still  forming,  as  multitudes  of  the  little  crea- 
tures are  perpetually  dying,  and  leaving  their 
tiny  shields  for  the  production  of  this  white 
substance.  In  the  finest  whiting,  and  even  on 
the  smooth  coating  of  white-washed  walls  and 
glazed  paper  and  visiting-cards,  these  little 
moss-like  coral  animalcula-shells  may  be  dis- 
covered by  the  aid  of  a  magnifying-glass  of 
sufficient  power.  Indeed,  the  saying  of  the 
ancient  naturalists,  that  "all  chalk  is  formed 
by  worms,"  which  for  a  long  season  was  con- 
demned as  absurd,  is  far  more  correct  than 
most  of  the  theories  which  were  substituted 
for  it.  How  they  came  to  that  conclusion  is 
wonderful; — as  we  have  not  learned  that  they 
possessed  any  thing  like  our  modern  and  con- 
venient microscopes.  They  either  must  have 
had  very  good  eyes  and  used  them  diligently, 

M 


178  CHALK. 

or  possibly  they  had  contrived  magnifiers  of 
some  description, — though  no  specimen  or  re- 
cord of  them  has  descended  to  us. 

"  We  have  several  varieties  of  coral,  father/' 
said  Alice,  spreading  her  necklace  and  brace- 
lets on  the  table  and  opening  a  drawer  of 
elegant  little  specimens.  "  Do  you  mean  to 
say  that  it  consists  of  the  same  materials  as 
this  smooth,  white  chalk?" 

Mr.  Goodman  replied  that  chalk  and  white 
coral  can  be  calcined  into  lime,  so  nearly 


B       Natural 
size. 


Magnified 


Section  of  Nummulite,  Pyrenees.  Spiralina,  Paris  Chalk. 

alike  that  we  could  not  easily  detect  any  dif- 
ference, both  being  nearly  pure  carbonate  of 
lime.  Chalk  abounds  more  in  the  temperate 
and  northern  regions,  while  coral'  is  rarely 
formed  except  in  tropical  climates.  Chalk 
seems  a  deposit  left  by  waters  receding  or 
drying  up;  while  coral  is  never  produced 


CORAL    ISLAND. 


179 


except  under  water,  the  insect  invariably 
stopping  his  labours  when  reaching  the  sur- 
face. By  degrees  they  have  formed — in  the 
Pacific  Ocean  especially — vast  barriers  and 
reefs;  from  fifty  to  one  hundred  feet  thick,  and 


Coral  Island  in  South  Seas. 


extending  from  a  few  miles  in  some  spots  to 
hundreds  of  leagues  in  others.  Many  of  the 
South  Sea  Islands  appear  to  have  been  ori- 
ginally formed  of  coral-rock,  on  which  soil 
has  gradually  gathered  and  vegetation  ad- 


180  CHALK. 

vanced,  till  they  have  been  prepared  for  the 
sustenance  and  residence  of  human  beings. 
Disappointment  Islands  and  Duff's  Group  are 
connected  by  five  hundred  miles  of  coral- 
reef,  over  which  the  natives  can  travel  from 
one  to  another.  Between  New  Holland  and 
New  Guinea  is  a  line  of  coral-reef  seven 
hundred  miles  long,  in  no  place  interrupted 
by  channels  wider  than  thirty  miles;  while 
the  Maldives  are  a  chain  of  coral-islets  four 
hundred  and  eighty  geographical  miles  long. 
These  are  the  summits  of  long  ranges  of 
sunken  mountains,  around  the  peaks  of  which 
the  coral-animals  began  to  build  their  reefs, 
and  have  continued  *to  build,  though  the 
peaks  have  sunk  beneath  the  level  of  the  sea. 
Professor  Dana,  of  New  Haven,  shows  how 
the  movements  of  the  earth's  crust  have  ac- 
complished this  result.  And  he  points  out 
long  belts  of  surface  on  the  Pacific  side  of  the 
globe,  which,  instead  of  sinking,  are  rising 
into  the  air;  and  along  these  the  coral-reefs 
have  been  carried  up  hundreds  of  feet  upon 
the  sides  of  the  mountains  which  line  the 
coast.  Such,  for  instance,  is  the  case  with 
the  eastern  coast  of  New  Holland,  where  the 
coral-reef  is  in  some  places  four  hundred  feet 


CORAL   REEFS.  181 

t 

above  the  level  of  the  sea.  This  need  not 
surprise  us,  when, -fey  turning  to  other  parts 
of  the  globe,  we  may  see  Greenland,  for  ex- 
ample, slowly  sinking,  and  Sweden  slowly 
rising  from  the  ocean  at  the  rate  of  one  and 
a  half  or  two  feet  in  a  century.  The  west 
coast  of  South  America  is  also  rising. 

It  is  astonishing  that  insects  should  make 
such  extensive  works ;  but  these  industrious 
and  persevering  coral-insects  appear  to  have 
existed  from  all  ages :  and  when  we  remem- 
ber that  five  hundred  millions  of  the  chalk- 
insects  can  find  room  to  sport  in  a  single  drop 
of  water,  (according  to  Ehrenberg's  state- 
ment,) and  that  each  one  can  multiply  to  one 
hundred  and  seventy  billions  in  four  days 
only,  the  wonder  seems  somewhat  less  incom- 
prehensible. 

It  is  not  known  how  long  the  coral-ani- 
mals live  and  work,  nor  exactly  at  what 
rate  the  growth  of  the  coral-reefs  goes  on: 
Many  and  very  inconsistent  estimates  have  been 
made,  amounting  to  little  more  than  conjec- 
tures ;  and,  in  fact,  it  depends  on  the  kind  of 
coral-animal  of  which  the  question  is  asked,  for 
some  grow  faster  than  others.  The  increase  of 
coral  has  not  yet  been  much  watched ;  but  we 

16     ' 


182  CHALK. 

can  form  some  idea  of  its  progress  from  the  his- 
tory of  a  ship  sunk  in  the  Gulf  of  Mexico  during 
a  heavy  storm.  It  was  laden  with  silver ;  and, 
thirty  years  afterwards,  divers  were  employed 
to  try  and  recover  some  of  the  treasure;  but 
great  difficulty  was  experienced  in  getting  to 
the  ship,  from  the  quantity  of  coral  which  in 
that  time  had  overgrown  it.  Sir  Hans 
Sloane  tells  us  that  the  ship's  timber,  the  iron 
and  money,  were  all  concreted  by  the  growth 
of  a  calcareous  or  limestone  matter. 

Wherever  the  bottom  of  the  ocean  is  settling 
down  and  carrying  out  of  sight  the  mountain- 
summits,  there  the  coral-reefs  are  ranged  in  a 
circular  manner,  with  a  lagoon,  or  shallow 
lake,  in  the  middle;  and  on  the  leeward  side 
is  a  single  opening,  through  which  the  tides 
set,  or  the  extra  water,  which  in  high  storms 
is  dashed  over  the  windward  portion  of  the 
reef  into  the  inuer  lake,  is  allowed  to  run 
out  again.  Along  the  reef  runs  a  narrow 
grove  of  cocoanut  or  bread-fruit  trees,  on 
which  the  inhabitants,  if  any  there  be,  sub- 
sist. And  along  the  edge,  just  under  the 
water;  is  an  abundance  of  elegant  varieties  of 
coral,  whose  form  and  colours  rival  those  of 
the  most  beautiful  flowers;  while  among 


COEAL.  183 

these  stony  groves  float  or  dart  a  million  bril- 
liant fish,  feeding  upon  the  food  they  find 
upon  the  branching  coral.  This  is  of  every 
shade  of  colour, —  black,  red,  pink,  green, 
white  and  yellow;  and  as  to  shape,  some  are 
branched  like  trees,  others  are  pipe-like  and 
fan-shaped.  Masses  of  cabbage-leaf  coral  are 
as  large  as  a  gooseberry-bush.  Some  rise 
like  tall  grass  or  hang  over  like  delicate 
feathers.  Each  variety  of  coral-insect  builds 
a  different-shaped  house  or  body  for  itself; 
and  one  generation  grows,  like  moss,  upon  the 
dead  layer  of  the  generation  which  preceded  it. 
The  most  violent  storms  have  no  effect  upon 
the  living  coral,  which  flourishes  best  upon 
the  windward  side,  but  only  dash  up  on  the 
reef  the  dead  branches  and  huge  masses,  which 
are  afterwards  ground  to  powder  and  spread 
far  over  the  bottom  of  the  sea. 

It  is  impossible  to  say  how  many  varieties 
of  coral-workers  there  are;  for  Ehrenberg, 
D'Arbigny  and  others  are  continually  discov- 
ering more.  Already,  however,  fifteen  hun- 
dred varieties  of  foraminifers  are  known  to 
science,  seven  hundred  polythalmian  or  many- 
celled  insects,  and  three  hundred  and  eighty- 
six  anthozoa,  most  of  which  still  exist. 


184 

The  bright-coloured  and  branched  corals 
are  used  only  for  ornamental  purposes,  such 
as  ladies'  necklaces,  bracelets,  brooches,  rings, 
&c. ;  and  their  value  depends  upon  the  size, 
shape,  colour  and  solidity  of  the  specimens. 
The  red  and  black  varieties  are  most  highly 
esteemed.  Some  portions  of  Sicilian  coral  have 
realized  eight  or  ten  guineas  the  ounce,  while 
other  parts  of  the  same  mass  have  been  sold 
for  one  shilling  the  pound.  Coral  is  mentioned 
very  anciently,  being  noticed  in  the  book  of 
Job  as  common,  and  in  Ezek.  xxvii.  16  as 
an  article  of  trade  with  the  ancient  com- 
mercial city  of  Tyre.  .  Large  quantities  are 
still  brought  from  the  shores  of  the  Medi- 
terranean and  Eed  Seas,  the  Persian  Gulf  and 
the  coast  of  Sumatra.  In  ancient  times  black 
coral  was  deemed  a  very  efficacious  divining- 
rod. 

Coral-rock  is  often  used  for  building-pur- 
poses in  the  South  Sea  Islands;  and  Mr. 
Williams,  in  his  "  Missionary  Enterprises/' 
describes  the  beautiful  plaster,  of  delicate 
bloom  colour,  which  he  made  from  calcined 
coral,  to  adorn  the  walls  of.  his  chapel  and 
school-house.  Indeed,  the  Sphinx  of  Egypt, 
and  some  of  the  pyramids,  are  built  chiefly 


COKAL.  185 

of  nummulitic  limestone,  consisting  of  small- 
chambered  shells  disposed  in  so  flat  a  whorl 
as  to  resemble  a  piece  of  money,  called  in 
Latin  nummus.  These  are  cemented  together  • 
by  the  chalky  remains  of  thousands  of  smaller 
insects. 

"Yes,"  said  Edward's  uncle;  "I  remember 
that  in  the  Alps  of  Dauphiny,  one  day,  I  came 
to  an  old  church  in  a  village  in  the  Val  de 
Bourg  d'Oysans,  at  least  six  thousand  feet 
above  the  sea,  which  looked  so  worn  and 
ancient  that  I  climbed  the  cliff  on  which  it 
stood,  to  examine  its  walls ;  and,  to  my  asto- 
nishment, I  found  them  all  worm-eaten,  as  I 
thought  at  first,  an  inch  or  two  in  depth.  But 
when  I  examined  the  stones  more  carefully  I 
found  that  they  were  only  weather-worn,  so 
that  the  corals  of  which  they  were  composed 
could  all  be  seen  and  studied.  In  the  lapse  of 
centuries  the  storms  had  dissolved  and  car- 
ried out  the  softer  mud  between  the  branching 
coral.  This  gave  the  church  its  gray  and 
venerable  air." 

Speaking   of    the   nummulite  fossils,  con- 
tinued Mr.  Goodman,  who  had  listened  with 
pleasure  to  this   interruption,  a  specimen  of 
nummulitic  limestone  from  the  Crimea  is  pre- 
16* 


186  CHALK. 

cisely  the  same  as  one  from  Egypt,  but  becomes 
fragile  and  crumbling  when  exposed  to  the 
air. 

None  of  these  curious  shells  are  now  found 
as  living  animals,  for  the  nummulites  seem  to 
be  quite  extinct :  indeed,  it  is  a  curious  fact 
that  there  is  a  much  larger  variety  of  extinct 
infusorial  shells  than  now  exist;  and,  from 
the  known  habits  of  their  successors  in  the 
present  day,  they  were  a  sort  of  scavengers 
in  creation,  eating  up  refuse  vegetable  matter, 
and  were  themselves  the  prey  of  larger  in- 
sects ;  while  their  bony  coverings  were  left, 
not  only  to  form  the  rocks  we  now  behold,  but 
to  furnish  stone  for  building,  powder  for  white- 
washing and  plate-cleaning, — even  the  glasses 
out  of  which  we  drink,  and  the  medicine  we 
take  for  the  cure  of  disease.  Well  may 
Ehrenberg  assert  "  that  though  these  micro- 
scopic organisms  are  inferior  in  energy  to 
lions  and  elephants,  yet  their  united  influ- 
ence is  far  more  important  than  that  of  those 
animals." 

Alice  looked  puzzled  at  this  statement,  and 
inquired  how  it  could  be  made  out  that  they 
furnish  all  these  useful  articles. 

Mr.  Goodman  then  told  her  that  all  limestone 


MAGNESIA.  187 

and  all  marbles  are  but  chalk  in  another  stage. 
The  glass  we  drink  out  of  and  furnish  our  win- 
dows with,  depends  largely  on  flint  sand  for 
its  transparency  and  pureness.  Chalk  finely 
ground  is  a  most  useful  medicine  for  some 
diseases, — though,  like  most  other  medicines, 
injurious  if  taken  in  excess.  Chalk  is  some- 
times prescribed  by  medical  men  for  various 
ailments  :  camphorated  chalk  is  used  for  tooth- 
powder. 

It  is  very  useful  as  an  absorbent  and  cor- 
rective of  acids,  but,  of  course,  needs  pro- 
fessional skill  in  its  application.  Some  draw- 
ing-chalks are  made  of  this  pure  white  mate- 
rial,— nearly  all  the  white,  gray  and  black 
crayons;  but  the  red,  and  other  colours,  are 
generally  prepared  from  varieties  of  clay  and 
ochre  and  coloured  with  metallic  oxides. 
Chalk  calcined,  or  burned  to  powder,  is  used 
in  putty  and  various  cements,  and  also  for 
manuring  land — as  it  greatly  promotes  the 
growth  of  the  short  rich  grass  which  im- 
proves sheep — for  pasturing  fine  Southdown 
mutton. 

The  calcined  MAGNESIA  of  the  apothecary 
looks  something  like  chalk,  and  is  an  earth  of 
similar  nature,  deriving  its  name  from  the  pro- 


188  CHALK. 

vince  of  Asia  Minor  where  it  was  first  used. 
It  is  now  found  pure  in  Piedmont,  Moravia, 
the  United  States  and  the  East  Indies;  but 
it  mingles  in  the  composition  of  many  mineral 
substances,  making  them  feel  soft  and  soapy 
to  the  touch.  The  magnesia  of  the  druggist 
is  generally  prepared  by  calcining  the  mag- 
nesian  limestone,  which  drives  off  the  water 
and  carbonic  acid,  or  from  the  most  bitter 
sea- water  or  magnesian  spring  waters. 

There  is  a  particular  formation,  below  the 
chalk  and  above  the  coal,  to  which  the  English 
geologists  who  first  studied  the  rocks  gave 
the  name  of  the  Magnesian  Limestone ;  and 
this  name  is  still  retained.  In  this  lime- 
stone are  found  shells  and  corals  in  abundance, 
and  also  the  scales  and  teeth  and  bones  of 
ancient  fish,  such  as  are  no  longer  found  in 
the  seas  by  fishermen.  But  there  are  many 
others  which  deserve  it  as  well.  The  Mis- 
souri and  Kentucky  geologists  called  the 
oldest  and  lowest  limestones  of  all  Magnesian 
Limestones;  for  so  they  are,  and  the  springs 
which  flow  from  them  are  like  medicine,  and 
injure  both  man  and  beast.  It  is  from  drink- 
ing this  water  where  it  stands  in  pools  and 
becomes  strong  that  the  "milk-sickness"  of 


MARL.  189 

the  "West  originates.  Sometimes  soda  is  more 
common  in  the  limestone  than  magnesia;  such 
is  the  case  with  the  mineral  water  which 
rises  in  the  deep  Artesian  well  of  Louisville, 
Kentucky.  When  the  carbonate  of  lime  and 
the  carbonate  of  magnesia  are  in  exactly  equal 
proportions,  the  rock  is  called  a  dolomite. 
Many  of  the  limestone  rocks  of  Canada 
are  dolomites ;  and  so  are  many  of  the  rocks 
of  the  Alps.  There  is  one  entire  mountain, 
six  thousand  feet  high,  rising  in  the  Alps  like 
a  great  tower  with  straight  sides,  all  dolomite  ; 
and  travellers  come  from  afar  to  see  it,  on 
account  of  its  grandeur. 

The  metal  magnesium  is  the  basis  of  mag- 
nesia, which  mingles  in  the  composition  of 
several  minerals.  Meerschaum,  or  foam  of 
the  sea,  is  an  earthy  carbonate  of  magnesia, 
extremely  light,  of  a  yellowish-gray  colour. 
When  first  dug,  it  is  soft  and  greasy,  and 
lathers,  like  soap :  the  Tartars  use  it  for 
washing  clothes,  and  the  Turks  for  making 
smoking-pipes. 

MARL  belongs  to  these  chalky  earths,  and 
seems  to  be  still  undergoing  the  process  of 
formation.  It  is  a  mixture  of  chalk,  or  car- 
bonate of  lime,  and  silica,  alumina,  with  some- 


190  CHALK. 

times  a  little  bitumen  and  oxide  of  iron.  It  is 
termed  shell-marl,  or  clay-marl,  according  to 
the  material  chiefly  predominating,  and,  being 
always  found  in  valleys,  which  were  formerly 
lakes,  or  on  the  shores  of  lakes  now  existing, 
the  idea  is  confirmed  that  it  is  derived  partly 
from  the  sediment  of  lime-springs,  and  partly 
from  the  decomposition  of  the  shells  or  secre- 
tions of  the  fresh-water  shell-insects  inhabit- 
ing the  waters.  Marl  is  dug  from  open  pits, 
and  much  used  for  dressing  land.  It  some- 
times becomes  solidified  by  nature's  chemistry 
into  rock-marl.  The  shell  sand  of  the  Cornish 
beach  is  so  valued  as  a  manure  that  five  or 
six  millions  of  cubic  feet  are  annually  conveyed 
from  the  coast  and  spread  over  the  inland 
fields.  When  left  undisturbed  on  the  shore,  it 
gradually  consolidates  into  beds  of  considerable 
thickness.  I  have  already  described  to  you 
the  shell-marl  and  greensand-marl  of  the  At- 
lantic coast,  which  constitute  so  valuable  a 
manure. 

Various  proportions  of  carbonate  of  lime, 
with  small  mixtures  of  other  materials,  pro- 
duce beautiful  minerals, — such  as  arragonite, 
consisting  of  a  mass  of  glossy,  silky-looking 
fibres  of  mixed  colours, — green,  pearl,  gray, 


ASBESTOS.  191 

violet  and  blue.  It  is  sometimes  termed  flos 
ferrij  or  iron  silk,  and  is  somewhat  like  as- 
bestos in  appearance ;  but  asbestos  consists 
of  very  little  lime  and  alumina,  with  a  great 
deal  of  silex  and  magnesia,  and  a  small  quan- 
tity of  oxide  of  iron.  It  is  so  pliable  that  its 
fibres  can  be  separated  and  woven  into  cloth. 
It  does  not  consume  in  fire,  and  was  therefore 
much  used  by  the  ancients  for  wicks  to  their 
oil-lamps,  while  the  bodies  of  the  dead  were 
frequently  wrapped  in  its  cloth  to  preserve  the 
ashes  separate  when  burned,  as  was  customary 
among  many  nations.  There  are  various  kinds 
of  asbestos,  bearing  the  names  of  amianthus, 
mountain  cork,  and  mountain  leather,  moun- 
tain paper,  or  mountain  wood,  as  its  texture 
most  nearly  resembles  these  substances.  The 
cloth  of  asbestos  is  purified  by  burning;  but 
it  loses  weight,  and  becomes  less  flexible. 
Under  a  very  strong  heat  the  fibres  appear  to 
melt;  but,  instead  of  running  together  in  a 
mass  like  metals,  they  moulder  and  fall  down, 
and  are  blown  away  by  any  slight  current  of 
air.  Fine  specimens  of  asbestos  are  found  in 
the  Highlands  of  New  York;  and  the  fibres 
are  worth,  when  long  and  silky,  four  dollars 
a  pound.  They  are  used  now  in  small  bundles 


192  CHALK. 

to  place  in  the  tubes  of  camphene  and  other 
explosive-oil  lamps,  because  the  flame  will 
never  travel  back  between  them.  They  are 
also  used  by  dentists,  who  melt  their  delicate 
ends  with  a  blow-pipe  and  thus  obtain  a  re- 
markable kind  of  solder.  They  have  been 
woven  into  cloth  and  made  up  into  dresses,  in 
which  men  have  walked  through  fire  and  not 
been  burned,  or  into  gloves,  with  which  red-hot 
iron  has  been  handled  safely.  The  coarser 
kinds  are  used  in  stuffing  the  sides  of  fire- 
proof safes.  It  is  a  remarkable  mineral;  but 
many  of  the  earths  are  as  remarkable  for 
beauty  as  this  is  for  its  utility.  Gems  are 
mostly  crystallized  earths. 

When  Mr.  Goodman  began  to  talk  of  earths, 
Edward  pointed  to  the  black  garden  MOULD, 
and  asked  what  it  was.  His  father  told  him 
that  it  is  chiefly  the  result  of  decayed  vege- 
tables, with  a  mixture  of  animal  matter.  The 
coral-rocks  do  not  exhibit  earth  enough  to 
be  fruitful  till  several  seasons  of  vegetable 
growth  have  lived  and  died  upon  them,  while 
the  gases  which  these  vegetables  imbibe 
from  the  atmosphere  not  only  combine  with 
the  surface  of  the  rock,  changing  its  composi- 
tion and  making  it  crumble,  but  their  decay 


BLACK  DIRT.  193 

generates  new  gas;  and  the  fluids  of  sea  and 
land  animals  add  another  source  of  fertility, 
while  turning  into  that  material  of  which 
the}7  were  first  created. 

In  the  limestone  cave  of  Kuhloh,  in  Ger- 
many, more  than  five  hundred  cubic  feet  of 
black  animal  dust,  impressively  denominated 
athe  dust  of  death,"  was  found,  resulting 
entirely  from  the  decomposition  of  bears  who 
inhabited  such  caves  in  ancient  days ;  and  in 
Portland  Island,  Lulworth  Cave  and  other 
places,  there  are  layers  of  "black  dirt,"  as  the 
quarry  men  call  it, — an  ancient  vegetable  soil, 
of  dark  brown  or  black  colour,  from  twelve  to 
eighteen  inches  thick,  evidently  formed  from 
the  decay  of  leaves,  since  earthy  lignite,  silici- 
fied  trunks  of  trees,  and  other  remains  of  plants, 
abound  in  it.  These  facts  wonderfully  illustrate 
the  words  of  Scripture,  "  Dust  thou  art,  and 
unto  dust  shalt  thou  return;"  and  also  the 
New  Testament  declaration,  "  This  mortal 
must  put  on  immortality."  Those  who  watch 
the  ceaseless  round  of  decay  and  reproduction 
which  perpetually  renews  the  face  of  our 
earth,  rendering  it  beautiful  to  the  eye  and  a 
useful  dwelling-place  for  men,  must  find  their 
belief  in  the  promised  resurrection  greatly  con- 

N  17 


194  CHALK. 

firmed ;  for  He  who  can  produce  such  brilliant 
gems  and  such  fragrant  flowers  from  unsightly 
soil  can  assuredly  change  our  vile  bodies, 
that  they  may  be  fashioned  like  ujito  the 
glorious  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ ;  and 
those  who  love  and  trust  him  will  not  only 
see  him,  but  be  like  him  in  the  world  to 
come. 


THE   OLD   TOWN-HALL.  195 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE. 

THE  old  town-hall  could  be  propped  up 
no  longer.  Its  picturesque  gables  nodded 
alarmingly  over  the  pathway,  and  its  worm- 
eaten  timbers  were  perpetually  giving  way,  so 
that  their  original  carved  work  could  scarcely 
be  traced.  It  was,  therefore,  condemned  to 
destruction,  and  the  artists  set  to  work  to 
delineate  its  venerable  appearance,  while  the 
architects  devised  plans  for  a  new  building, 
which  should  be  the  pride  of  the  county.  Mr. 
Goodman  was  one  of  the  building-committee ; 
and  Edward,  whose  antiquarian  reverence  for 
the  old  hall  did  not  abate  his  boyish  delight 
in  the  progress  of  the  new  one,  was  continu- 
ally on  the  spot,  equally  interested  with  all 
that  the  old  masonry  revealed  by  the  break- 
ing down  of  the  old  plaster  and  partitions, 
and  the  deposit  of  the  new  materials  for  the 
structure  now  contemplated. 


196  LIME — MAEBLE — GRANITE. 

Sometimes  lie  was  permitted  to  stay  in  the 
committee-room;  and  his  favourite  grotto- 
work  much  increased  his  interest  in  the  dis- 
cussions upon  the  comparative  merits  of  brick 
and  stone,  granite  and  marble,  specimens  of 
which  passed  in  review,  and,  when  done  with, 
were  not  unfrequently  bestowed  upon  him 
and  other  young  people  who  took  part  in 
making  "the  friendship-grotto." 

The  new  town-hall  was  a  handsome  affair. 
Day  by  day  it  rose  higher  and  higher.  The 
walls  were  of  gray  granite,  the  floors  and 
staircases  of  white  freestone,  while  the  broad 
fireplaces  of  the  principal  apartments  were 
of  Italian  marble,  some  red  and  some  black, 
but  so  highly  polished  as  to  exhibit  every  tiny 
marking  peculiar  to  that  substance.  Edward 
and  Alice  admired  this  very  much,  and  soon 
discovered  the  shells  with  which  it  was  stud- 
ded. They  then  examined  all  the  varieties 
of  marble  in  the  grotto,  and  perceived  many 
containing  similar  remains,  especially  when 
they  used  their  magnifying-glass  to  any 
wetted  smooth  surface ;  and  they  sought  the 
first  opportunity  of  asking  their  father  if  the 
marble  was  made  of  any  kind  of  chalk.  Mr. 
Goodman  told  them  that  all  marble  is  lime- 


MAEBLE.  197 

stone,  and,  as  chalk  is  one  variety,  of  course 
they  consist  of  similar  materials,  though  in 
different  conditions.  LIME,  and  especially 
the  carbonate  of  lime,  of  which  chalk  and 
marble  are  the  purest  specimens,  abounds  so 
largely  in  the  rocks  that  it  is  estimated  to 
form  one-seventh  of  the  crust  of  our  globe. 

He  further  stated  that  the  great  mass  of  all 
known  rocks  seems  to  consist  of  different  com- 
binations of  eight  or  nine  simple  materials; 
and  these  are  called  quartz,  felspar,  mica, 
hornblende,  the  carbonates  of  lime,  magnesia, 
soda,  potash  and  oxide  of  iron. 

The  substance  termed  MARBLE  abounds  in 
all  great  ranges  of  the  primary  or  earliest- 
formed  rocks  of  Europe,  in  the  north  of  Africa, 
and  in  the  United  States;  while  we  know 
from  the  Bible  that  marbles  of  various  colours 
were  early  used  as  building-materials,  both  in 
Syria  and  Persia.  David  delivered  to  Solo- 
mon "  marble  stones  in  abundance"  for  the 
temple;  and  the  palace  of  Ahasuerus  was 
paved  with  "  red,  blue,  white  and  black  mar- 
ble or  alabaster."  (Esther  i.  6.)  The  sculp- 
tured slabs  of  Nineveh  and  stately  white 
columns  of  Persepolis  attest  its  use  among 
the  wealthy  nations  who  flourished  in  ages 
17* 


198  LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE. 

long  gone  by.  Quarries  of  marble  have  been 
lately  discovered  undermining  Jerusalem,  with 
blocks  hewn  and  partly  squared,  as  if  the 
workmen  had  but  lately  left  them.  The  most 
compact  and  highly  crystallized  is  esteemed 
the  best.  Some  is  of  a  dazzling  white  colour 
and  close  grain,  resembling  fine  loaf-sugar, 
and  hence  is  called  by  some  writers  saccharine 
marble.  It  is  valued  for  statuary.  Such  are 
the  Parian  and  Carrara  marbles.  These  will 
take  so  high  a  polish  as  to  appear  almost 
translucent.  From  Carrara  not  less  than 
half  a  million's  worth  of  white  marble  is  now 
annually  exported.  The  quarries  are  very 
accessible,  and  the  rock  so  free  from  flaw  that 
large  blocks,  of  two  hundred  cubic  feet,  can  be 
detached  by  means  of  very  simple  machinery. 
Marbles  in  great  variety  were  used  by  ancient 
sculptors,  as  may  be  seen  in  the  British  Mu- 
seum; but  their  localities  are  not  all  known 
now.  Very  fine  white  statuary  marbles  have 
been  of  late  discovered  in  the  State  of  Ver- 
mont ;  and  three  sides  of  the  Girard  College  at 
Philadelphia  are  built  of  white  Vermont  mar- 
ble, because  the  white  marbles  of  the  Schuyl- 
kill  quarries,  near  Philadelphia,  furnish  only 
a  limited  supply.  Similar  white  marble  oc- 


MARBLE.  199 

curs  all  along  the  line  of  the  Blue  Ridge  re- 
gion, as  far  as  South  Carolina. 

Alice  here  inquired  the  meaning  of  the 
word  marble, — because  she  had  noticed  that 
such  very  different-looking  substances  were 
called  by  that  name. 

Her  father  replied  that  it  is  of  the  same 
origin  as  the  French  word  marbre,  the  Latin 
marmor,  and  the  Greek  marmaros,  shining 
or  glittering.  All  marbles  effervesce  with 
acid,  and  consequently  are  injured  by  acid 
applications ;  and  all  will  burn  into  ordinary 
lime.  They  are  variously  marked,  according 
to  the  different  substances  mingling  with 
them,  or  their  different  degrees  of  compact- 
ness, and  are  differently  grouped  by  scientific 
persons.  Sculptors  and  architects  distinguish 
them  into  about  eight  sorts:  namely, — one- 
coloured, — pure  black  or  pure  white;  varie- 
gated,— marked  with  irregular  spots  and 
veins ;  madrepore,— when  studded  with  round 
encrinitic  or  coral  markings;  shell, — when 
only  a  few  shells  are  interspersed  through  the 
mass;  lumachelli,  or  fire  marble, — entirely 
composed  of  shells,  with  veins  of  flame-coloured 
cry s  tal  flashing  like  fire  as  the  table  is  moved ; 
cipolin, — containing  veins  of  greenish  talc; 


200  LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE. 

Breccia  marbles, — formed  of  angular  frag- 
ments of  various  composition  and  colour;  and 
pudding-stone  marble, — when  the  fragments 
are  round  instead  of  angular. 

This  is  a  stone  called  verde  antique,  which 
is  a  curious,  and  rather  pretty,  mixture  of 
white  marble  and  green  serpentine.  The 
Welsh  Mona  marble  is  very  similar.  Fine 
dark-gray  and  purple  marbles  are  found  in 
Ireland,  and  known  under  the  names  of  the 
places  whence  they  are  quarried.  A  fine 
black  marble,  with  a  white  shell,  was  so  ad- 
mired by  the  Eoman  consul  Lucullus  that 
he  gave  it  the  name  of  lucullite.  The  same 
sort  is  now  found  in  Derbyshire,  Kilkenny, 
Cork  and  Galway,  and  is  sometimes  called 
Nero  antico  by  the  Italians,  who  are  fond  of 
distinguishing  every  variety  by  some  new  and 
peculiar  name,  and  sometimes  give  two  or 
three  different  names  to  the  same  stone, — a 
practice  that  is  very  puzzling  to  youthful  col- 
lectors and  inexperienced  artists.  Verde  an- 
tique is  also  found  in  Vermont. 

The  Florentine  ruin  marble  is  a  very  com- 
pact limestone,  and,  seen  at  a  little  distance, 
resembles  drawings  done  in  bistre,  or  wood- 
soot.  The  blue  Vesuvius  marble  is  generally 


PORTLAND  STONE.  201 

found  in  loose  masses  among  blocks  of  stone 
ejected  from  the  volcano,  though  not  having, 
apparently,  been  melted  or  heated  by  the  sub- 
terranean fire.  This  was  used  for  the  sky  in 
ancient  mosaic-work. 

Mr.  Goodman  then  turned  to  some  speci- 
mens of  Bath  stone  and  Portland  stone  from 
England,  remarking  that  these  and  other 
oolites,  of  which  they  are  a  part,  extend,  with 
little  interruption,  across  the  island.  This 
class  of  stone  is  formed  of  minute,  round  con- 
cretions of  lime,  hence  called  roe-stone  oolite, 
or  fishing-rock.  It  is  much  used  by  archi- 
tects ;  but  it  is  very  porous,  and  therefore 
easily  affected  by  the  weather,  which  makes  it 
moulder  away.  Oolites  of  a  much  older  age 
occur  in  the  United  States,  but  are  very 
scarce. 

The  pea-stone  is  very  similar,  but  the  grains 
are  larger,  and  composed  of  concentric  layers, 
enclosing  a  bubble  of  air,  a  grain  of  sand,  or 
some  fragment  of  mineral  matter:  it  abounds 
in  Bohemia.  A  similar  substance,  called  tufa- 
ceous  limestone,  is  found  encrusting  various 
substances,  such  as  leaves,  shells,  b'ones,  &c. 
In  the  British  Museum  is  a  human  skull  cov- 
ered with  lime-crystals  deposited  by  the  river 


202  LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE. 

Tiber.  Indeed,  Eome  itself  is  built  very 
much  of  travertine,  a  stone  composed  in  this 
way,  and  the  formation  of  which  is  still  in 
progress. 

There  are  numerous  delicate  white  veins 
and  crusts  sometimes  seen  inside  of  limestone 
caves,  which  are  called  agaric  mineral,  or 
rock-milk.  It  is  produced  by  the  continual 
action  of  water  upon  the  surface  of  limestone. 
When  water  drops  through  the  roof  of  a 
cave,  long  pendants,  like  icicles,  are  gradu- 
ally formed,  hanging  in  tubes  or  branches, 
and  sometimes  in  sheets  resembling  drapery: 
these  are  called  stalactites.  The  same  waters 
sometimes  drop  on  to  the  floor,  and,  as  they 
run  off,  leave  a  mass  of  hardened  carbonate 
of  lime  in  irregular  shapes :  those  are  stalag- 
mites, and  are  sometimes  so  finely  crystallized 
or  compacted  as  to  merit  the  name  of  ala- 
baster. The  Oriental  alabaster,  however,  has 
in  it  a  small  admixture  of  gypsum,  or  sul- 
phate of  lime.  This  is  often  used  for  scent- 
boxes;  and  some  think  that  the  alabaster  box 
filled  with  precious  ointment,  mentioned  in 
the  Scripture,  was  made  of  this  delicate  ma- 
terial. 

The   Grotto  of  Antiparos,   in   the   Archi- 


GROTTO   OF   ANTIPAROS.  203 

pelago,  is  described  as  filled  with  petrifactions 
of  all  colours,  so  singularly  disposed  as  to 
resemble  trees,  flowers,  brooks  and  animals 
all  turned  to  stone.  The  floor  is  rugged  with 
brilliant  lime  crystals,  of  red,  blue,  green 
and  yellow ;  while  stalactites  of  white  marble, 
fallen  from  the  roof,  mingle  among  them. 
One  side  of  the  passage  to  this  remarkable 
cave  is  a  sloping  wall  formed  of  a  single  mass 
of  purple  marble,  studded  with  rock-crystals, 
looking  like  a  row  of  amethysts.  Some  of  the 
stalactites  are  five-and-twenty  feet  long,  of 
dazzling  whiteness,  and  yet  so  transparent  that, 
when  illuminated  by  torch-light,  the  low,  nar- 
row alley  by  which  it  is  entered  glitters  as  if 
it  were  really  the  fabled  valley  of  diamonds. 
The  Castleton  Cave,  and  crystallized  caverns 
in  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire,  owe  their  beauties 
to  similar  stalactites  and  crystals.  The  cele- 
brated Austrian  caves  of  Adelsberg  and  Mag- 
dalena  have  wonderful  sheets  of  stalactite,  be- 
hind which  the  guides  hold  their  torches,  and 
make  them  appear  like  transparent-white  glit- 
tering curtains.  A  river  flows  through  one  of 
these  caves  for  several  miles ;  and  in  it  are  many 
of  those  whitish,  slimy,  half-lizard  half-fish 
like  animals  without  eyes  and  furnished  with 


204  LIME — MAEBLE — GRANITE. 

both  lungs  and  gills,  which  naturalists  have 
called  the  proteus  anguinis. 

Weir's  Cave,  in  Virginia,  is  a  miracle  of 
beauty.  In  one  of  its  rooms,  called  the  music- 
hall,  parallel  sheets  of  alabaster  hang  from 
the  roof,  and,  when  struck  with  a  mallet,  give 
out  various  organ-tones  of  a  grandeur  in  har- 
mony with  the  mysterious  darkness  of  the 
scene.  In  another  room  the  limestone  drip- 
pings have  formed  a  gigantic  statue  of  Wash- 
ington. 

But  of  all  the  caves  in  the  world  known  to 
man,  the  Mammoth  Cave  of  Kentucky  excels 
in  size  and  variety  of  admirable  sights.  Its 
profound  abysses,  where  lakes  and  rivers  lie, 
— its  long  galleries  and  lofty  domes, — its 
monstrous  columns  covered  with  crystals, — 
its  roof  of  stars,  as  it  seems  to  the  eye  when  lit 
by  the  torches  of  travellers, — fill  the  mind  of 
the  beholder  with  wonder  and  awe. 

Edward  pointed  upwards,  where  a  few 
humble  specimens  were  here  and  there  stuck 
on  the  roof  of  the  grotto;  and  his  father  con- 
tinued to  state  that  in  one  of  the  English  coal- 
mines, it  is  said,  there  is  a  constant  formation 
of  limestone,  caused  by  the  trickling  of  water 
through  the  rocks.  This  stone  would  be 


THE   SUNDAY   STONE.  205 

always  white,  like  white  marble,  were  it  not 
that  men  are  working  in  the  mine,  and  as 
the  black  dust  rises  from  the  coal  it  mixes 
with  the  soft  lime  and  thus  tinges  it  black. 
During  the  night,  however,  when  no  coal- 
dust  rises,  the  stone  is  white;  the  next  day, 
while  the  miners  work,  a  black  layer  is  de- 
posited; and  so  on  alternate  layers  of  black 
and  white  are  formed  during  the  week,  till 
Sunday  comes.  Then,  as  the  miners  do  not 
work  on  the  Sabbath,  so  much  larger  a  layer 
of  white  stone  occurs,  that  they  call  it  "the 
Sunday  stone,"  and  can  thus  note  their  Sab- 
bath observance  marked  for  them  on  this 
stone. 

At  West  Stockbridge,  Massachusetts,  a 
calcareous  breccia  was  formed  in  the  short 
period  of  seventeen  years,  by  the  chips 
thrown  off  in  hewing  marble  being  cemented 
together  by  the  lime  sediment  from  a  stream 
which  flowed  over  them,  till  the  breccia  thus 
formed  became  nearly  as  solid  as  the  original 
limestone.  Such  incidents  as  this  afford  in- 
teresting evidence  of  some  of  the  modes  by 
which  God  works  in  nature.  At  Clermont,  in 
France,  a  mineral  spring  has  dropped  its 
limestone  for  many  centuries,  so  as  to  form  a 

18 


206  LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE. 

bridge  of  rock,  which  it  has  pushed  across  a 
stream  and  is  still  forming  on  the  opposite 
bank.  Close  by  is  a  water-wheel,  in  a  shed 
furnished  with  shelves,  on  which  are  placed 
baskets,  birds,  coins  and  other  objects,  which 
are  all  coated  with  the  spray  and  turned  at 
last  into  stone. 

The  pretty  satin-spar  necklaces  which  you 
buy  in  the  shops  are  nothing  but  fibrous  lime- 
stone, found  chiefly  in  Derbyshire,  England, 
where  the  rarest  and  most  beautiful  lime  crys- 
tals are  found, — though  various  sorts  are  met 
with  in  every  part  of  the  world.  Some  of  these 
crystals  are  very  pretty,  and  appear  in  six- 
sided  and  three-sided  prisms,  and  also  as 
pyramids.  Indeed,  calcareous  spar,  or  lime 
crystals,  occur  in  no  less  than  six  hundred 
different  forms,  and  vary  in  colour, —  gray, 
blue,  yellow,  green,  red,  white  and  brown. 
The  transparent  crystals  reflect  double. 

Gypsum,  composed  of  sulphate  of  lime,  is 
known  as  alabaster,  and,  when  reduced  to 
powder  by  heat,  forms  plaster  of  Paris, — so 
called  from  the  quarries  near  Paris,  where 
the  mineral  abounds.  It  is  found  principally 
above  the  chalk-formation.  Calcined,  pow- 
dered and  mixed  with  water,  it  easily  runs 


GYPSUM.  207 

into  moulds  for  images,  and  ornamental  work 
for  buildings.  It  is  also  used  for  stereotype 
and  pottery  moulds,  and  for  models  and  casts 
of  various  kinds.  Mixed  with  quicklime, 
gypsum  makes  an  excellent  mortar,  and, 
simply  ground  and  powdered,  is  considered 
a  fertilizing  manure  for  land.  Many  of  the 
Derbyshire  and  Staffordshire  gypsum-quarries 
yield  specimens  compact  enough  for  the  turn- 
ing-lathe, which  are  made  into  jars,  vases, 
and  chimney-ornaments,  almost  rivalling  in 
beauty  the  specimens  of  alabaster  brought  from 
Volterra,  in  Tuscany.  A  very  large  trade  in. 
alabaster  statues,  boxes,  pedestals  for  time- 
pieces, &c.,  is  carried  on  in  Italy,  where  the 
chisel  is  used  as  well  as  the  lathe;  but  all 
alabaster  articles  require  to  be  kept  closely 
under  glass  shades,  as  exposure  to  the  air 
quickly  destroys  both  their  colour  and  trans- 
lucency.  I  have  already  told  you  how  the 
American  gypsum  is  found  in  Nova  Scotia,  in 
Central  New  York  and  in  Southern  Virginia. 
But  there  are  vast  fields  of  gypsum  also  in 
Western  Arkansas  and  among  the  Rocky 
Mountains. 

The  pavement  in  the  streets  of  Plymouth 
in   England   look  veined   and   polished,    like 


208  LIME — MABBLE — GEANITE. 

marble,  when  it  rains:  being  made  of  the 
common  marble  abounding  in  Devonshire, 
the  rain  displays  its  markings  as  well  as 
polishing  would.  Limestone,  with  admixtures 
of  magnesia,  silica,  sulphur  and  several  other 
substances,  produces  many  varieties  of  rock 
and  stone.  Some  of  these,  as  the  stinkstone, 
or  swinestone,  emit  a  peculiar  fetid  smell 
when  rubbed;  others  give  not  only  a  phos- 
phorescent odour,  but  light  tinged  with  dif- 
ferent colours.  Magnesian  limestone — some- 
times called  dolomite,  after  Dolomieu,  a 
French  geologist — is  one  of  the  hardest  and 
most  d arable  varieties.  The  beautiful  white 
sort  found  in  the  isle  of  Tenedos  was  much 
used  by  ancient  sculptors;  and  modern  archi- 
tects still  esteem  it  for  building.  Thin  long 
slabs  of  this  dolomite,  and  even  of  common 
granulated  limestone,  may  be  rendered  flex- 
ible by  exposure  to  heat  for  a  few  hours. 
Some  tables  made  of  this  in  the  Borghese 
Palace  at  Borne  excited  much  attention  among 
the  curious.  A  similar  species  exists  near  Tyne- 
mouth  Castle.  It  is  cream-coloured,  and  is 
easily  cut  with  a  knife.  It  is  extremely  porous, 
and  loses  its  flexibility  when  moderately  dry, 
— though  when  either  very  wet  or  very  dry  it 


SERPENTINE.  209 

readily  bends.     All  marble  is  elastic;  and  a 
slab  will  quiver  when  shaken. 

Serpentine  is  another  pretty,  green  mixture 
of  lime,  magnesia,  alum,  iron,  &c.,  some 
varieties  of  which  are  magnetic.  The  smooth, 
compact  stones  used  by  lithographers  for  their 
drawing  or  writing  plates  are  often  made  of 
lias,  or  magnesian  limestone,  from  Bavaria. 
Lime  is  also  much  used  in  mortar,  and  for 
stucco.  Veins  of  lead,  zinc  and  silver  are  fre- 
quent in  limestone  rocks ;  among  the  bunches 
of  lime  crystals,  cubes  of  lead  and  copper  are 
often  seen,  in  pretty  contrast  with  the  pure 
white  crystals. 

Edward  asked  how,  if  limestone  is  so  use- 
ful for  pavement,  it  happened  that  his  shoes 
were  so  spoiled  when  he  went  to  the  lime- 
kilns some  days  before. 

Mr.  Goodman  stated  that  all  calcined  or  burnt 
lime  is  called  quicklime,  and  when  deprived  of 
carbonic  acid  is  exceedingly  caustic,  quickly 
causing  decomposition,  both  of  vegetable  and 
animal  substances,  and  therefore  shoes,  being 
made  of  leather,  would  be  speedily  destroyed  by 
it.  Lime  is  used  for  this  very  purpose  by  tan- 
ners for  making  wash-leather.  When  exposed 
to  the  air,  lime  quickly  imbibes  carbonic  acid 

0  18* 


210 


LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE. 


from  the  atmosphere,  and  is  then  a  useful 
addition  as  manure  for  corn  and  grass  lands. 

In  ordinary  language,  lime  is  termed  an 
earth;  but  chemically  it  is  the  oxide,  or  rust, 
of  the  metal  calcium.  This  metal,  however, 
is  never  found  in  its  native  state,  and,  when 
procured  in  small  quantities  by  the  chemist, 
it  quickly  becomes  an  oxide  again.  When 
water  is  thrown  on  lime,  it  is  observable  how 
quickly  it  is  absorbed,  while  much  heat  and 
vapour  are  perceived.  It  is  obvious  enough 
when  the  workmen  slack  lime,  as  they  turn  it. 

Edward  took  up  one  or  two  specimens  of 
GRANITE,  asking  if  they  were  made  of  lime. 


PORPHYRITIC  GRANITE. 


No,  said  his  father.  Granite  is  a  rock  com- 
pounded of  quartz,  felspar  and  mica,  with 
sometimes  other  substances,  among  which 


GNEISS.  211 

may  be  lime, — but  very  seldom.  Stonecutters 
speak  of  forty-two  kinds  of  granite.  When 
the  crystals  of  felspar  are  very  large  and 
imbedded  in  a  cement,  the  rock  is  called 
porphyry.  When,  instead  of  the  rock  being 
solid,  it  is  made  up  of  thin  layers,  and  the 
flakes  of  mica  seem  to  lie  in  one  direction, 
and  the  quartz  is  not  well  crystallized,  we 
call  the  rock  gneiss.  When  instead  of  shining 
specks  or  flakes  of  mica  we  have  black  specks 
or  crystals  of  hornblende,  we  call  it  sienite, — 
from  the  city  of  Syene,  in  Egypt,  where  the 
great  temple-quarries  are  which  the  ancients 
used.  The  great  obelisk  in  the  centre  of 
Paris  is  of  sienite,  as  is  also  Mount  Sinai 
in  Arabia:  so  that  the  rock  might  bear  the 
name  of  sinaite  as  well  as  sienite.  The  pre- 
vailing colours  of  granite  are  gray,  white, 
flesh-colour,  red  and  black.  It  is  composed 
sometimes  of  such  coarse  materials  that  the 
separate  crystals  are  a  foot  or  more  in  dia- 
meter. In  some  lumps  of  American  granite 
large  flakes  of  mica  could  be  cut  off  from  the 
shining  parts.  The  mica  of  the  Highlands  of 
New  York  comes  out  of  the  rock  sometimes 
in  plates  two  feet  square.  In  Russia  such 
plates  are  used  for  window-glass.  In  other 


212  LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE. 

kinds  of  granite  the  grains  are  so  fine  as  to 
be  scarcely  distinguishable  by  the  naked  eye  ; 
and  between  the  coarsest  and  the  finest  there 
is  great  variety.  The  finer  kinds  are  the 
most  useful,  and  the  coarser  most  interesting 
for  the  various  minerals  observable  in  them. 
One  sort  is  called  graphic  granite,  because 
the  crystals  of  quartz  make  the  surface  look 
as  if  covered  with  letters. 


GRAPHIC  GRANITE. 


The  gray  Aberdeen  granite  is  now  valued 
for  building  and  pedestals,  as  it  is  susceptible 
of  a  high  polish.  That  of  Peterhead  is  red- 
dened by  oxide  of  iron  in  the  felspar  crystals. 
The  Grampian  Hills  in  Scotland,  the  Cumber- 
land and  Cornish  Hills  in  England,  the  Wick- 
low  Mountain  in  Ireland,  the  Alps  in  Switzer- 
land, the  Pyrenees  in  Spain,  the  Dofrefield  in 
Norway,  the  Ural  Mountains  in  Russia,  the 
Abyssinian  and  other  African  ranges,  and  the 


GRANITE.  213 

Andes  in  South  America,  are  all  composed  of 
rocks  more  or  less  granitic.  Indeed,  as  Hum- 
boldt  remarks,  "when  we  pass  to  another 
hemisphere,  we  see  new  forms  of  plants  and 
animals,  and  even  new  constellations  in  the 
heavens;  but  in  the  rocks  we  still  recognise 


our  old  acquaintances, — the  same  granite,  the 
same  gneiss,  the  same  quartz,  and  the  rest." 

The  first  railroad  in  the  United  States  was 
made  to  carry  the  celebrated  Quincy  granite 
to  Boston;  and  in  the  neighbourhood  of 
these  quarries  has  been  found  recently  that 
extraordinary  fossil  trilobite  called  the  Para- 
doxides.  Similar  granite-quarries  are  wrought 
on  Cape  Ann  near  Gloucester.  New  Hampshire 
is  often  called  the  Granite  State.  Great  dikes 
of  granite  rise  through  all  the  rocks  of  the 
Lawrentian  Mountains  in  Eastern  Canada. 


214  LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE. 

Gneiss,  as  I  have  said,  continued  Mr.  Good- 
man,— for  no  one  seemed  disposed  to  interrupt 
him, — gneiss,  of  which  I  see  more  than  one 
specimen  built  into  your  grotto,  is  a  rock 
composed  of  the  same  materials  as  granite, 
but  differently  arranged.  It  has  been  called 
stratified  granite,  because  the  felspar,  mica 
and  quartz,  instead  of  being  mixed  together, 
occur  in  thin,  irregular  layers  and  present  a 
pretty  surface  of  dark  and  light  stripes. 
Gneiss  splits  most  easily  in  the  plane  of  the 
darker  layers ;  and  the  surface  thus  exposed  is 
almost  entirely  covered  with  shining  spangles 
of  mica.  Occasionally  the  layers  constituting 
gneiss,  instead  of  occurring  in  thin  laminse, 
are  divided  into  thick  beds.  Where  veins  of 
granite  and  gneiss  intersect  each  other,  the 
gneiss  appears  to  have  a  larger  quantity  of 
felspar  and  to  be  of  redder  colour  than  usual. 

This  shining  mica,  which  peels  off  so  easily 
into  flakes,  is  one  of  the  many  compounds  of 
silica  and  alumina  with  oxide  of  iron,  and 
potash.  It  is  transparent,  and  sometimes  is 
found  in  crystals  more  than  a  foot  square,  and 
can  then  be  split  into  thin  plates  for  windows 
and  lanterns.  It  will  bear  heat  and  vibration 
better  than  glass,  and  is  therefore  well  adapted 


MICA.  215 

for  ship-lights,  (when  glass  would  be  shattered 
by  the  report  of  cannon,)  and  also  for  anthra- 
cite-stove doors.  The  largest  sheets  of  mica 
are  brought  from  Siberia,  and  termed  Siberian 
glass. 

Talc  is  a  softer,  yet  less  elastic,  sort  of  mica, 
owing  its  peculiarity  to  the  presence  of 
magnesia.  It  is  used  in  making  porcelain 
paste  and  in  polishing  alabaster,  and  is  some- 
times mixed  with  rouge  for  the  toilet,  to 
soften  the  skin.  Carpenters  and  tailors  use 
it  as  a  marking- material.  There  are  said 
to  be  ten  sorts  of  mica,  each  bearing  a  differ- 
ent name.  The  baldstein  or  figure-stone  of 
China  is  soft,  and  easily  cut  into  the  grotesque 
figures  brought  from  that  country.  The 
pearly  gray  or  red  lapidolite  of  Scotland  is  cut 
into  beautiful  snuff-boxes.  The  green  earth 
of  Verona  forms  the  mountain-green  of  artists 
in  water-colours;  and  steatite,  or  soapstone,  is 
useful  for  removing  grease  from  silk  and 
woollen  stuffs.  Many  savages — especially 
those  on  the  banks  of  the  Orinoco — eat  great 
quantities  of  steatite.  It  does  not  really  con- 
tain nourishment;  but  probably  it  removes 
the  sense  of  emptiness,  which  is  so  oppressive. 

Granite  and  porphyritic  rocks  are  solid,  not 


216  LIME — MARBLE — GRANITE. 

stratified,  and  seem  to  owe  their  mixture  in 
a  great  measure  to  heat,  and  are  therefore 
termed  igneous  rocks.  Many  kinds  of  por- 
phyry seem  to  have  been  vitrified,  or  turned 
into  glass  by  some  natural  process,  while  the 
admixture  composing  granite  appears  to  have 
been  nearly  in  the  condition  of  boiling  mud, 
yet  not  so  completely  fused  as  lava  usually  is. 
Chalk  has  actually  been  converted  into  crys- 
tallized marble  by  heating  it  ^powerfully  in  a 
closed  gun-barrel. 

Granite  rocks  look  very  beautiful,  and  give 
one  an  idea  of  strength  and  firmness.  So 
obvious  and  striking  are  these  and  other 
characteristics  of  rocks,  that  it  is  not  sur- 
prising that  they  are  frequently  used  in  the 
Scriptures  to  illustrate  the  character  and 
attributes  of  God.  Indeed,  the  Scriptures 
having  been  written  in  lands  abounding  with 
rocks,  the  minds  of  the  inspired  penmen 
gathered  many  figurative  illustrations  of 
divine  truth  from  the  scenery  around  them, 
whether  wandering  in  the  deserts  of  Arabia, 
peacefully  tilling  the  Land  of  Promise,  or 
wearing  away  the  seventy  years'  captivity  in 
Babylon.  Sometimes  the  eternity  of  Jehovah 
is  suggested  by  the  "Rock  of  ages;"  some- 


GRANITE.  217 

times  his  protecting  power,  "Be  thou  my 
strong  rock/'  (Ps.  xxxi.  2;)  a  refuge  in  danger, 
"Lead  me  to  the  rock  that  is  higher  than  I," 
(Ps.  Ixi.  2 ;)  a  place  of  refreshment  and  safety, 
"As  the  shadow  of  a  great  rock  in  a  weary 
land."  (Isa.  xxxii.  2.)  And  this  same  sub- 
stance is  typical,  in  man,  of  his  hardened  heart, 
insensible  to  all  the  spiritual  tillage  of  pro- 
phets and  apostles,  till,  under  the  Holy  Spirit's 
influence,  the  word  of  God — like  as  a  fire,  or 
"  like  a  hammer  that  breaketh  the  rock  in 
pieces,"  (Jer.  xxiii.  29) — leads  the  broken  and 
contrite  sinner  by  faith  to  drink  living  water 
from  "that  spiritual  rock,  which  is  Christ." 

The  rocks,  too,  that  rent  at  the  time  of  his 
atoning  death  on  the  cross,  may  remind  us 
that  the  barriers  between  God  and  the  sinner 
were  then  removed,  and  that  henceforth  we 
may  sing,  with  joyful  confidence, — 

"Rock  of  ages,  cleft  for  me, 
Let  me  hide  myself  in  thee." 


19 


218  VOLCANIC   PRODUCTIONS. 


CHAPTEE  IX. 

VOLCANIC   PRODUCTIONS. 

MR.  GOODMAN  read  from  a  New  York  news- 
paper, "The  eruption  of  Vesuvius  may  now 
be  said  to  have  terminated,  after  three  weeks' 
activity,  during  which  a  prodigious  quantity 
of  lava  has  been  ejected." 

Edward  remarked  that  Mr.  T sent  a 

box  of  different  stones  for  the  grotto,  some  of 
which,  he  said  in  his  letter,  came  from  Naples, 
and  all  were  volcanic  productions :  they  were 
called  obsidian,  pumice,  basalt,  amygdaloid, 
trap,  trachyte,  sulphur,  and  some  other  names 
on  the  labels,  besides  several  kinds  of  lava. 

Mr.  Goodman  replied  that  lava  is  a  general 
term  for  all  the  molten  rock  or  fluid  mass 
ejected  from  any  volcano  during  an  eruption; 
but  it  is  composed  of  a  great  many  different 
materials,  which  naturally  assume  various 
appearances  in  cooling,  and  from  the  action 
of  the  atmosphere.  Most  of  them  can  be  sepa- 


LAVA.  219 

rated  by  chemical  means.  Felspar  and  augite 
are  the  chief  substances ;  but  so  many  others 
are  frequently  mingled,  that  in  the  produc- 
tions of  Vesuvius  alone  not  less  than  one 
hundred  different  specimens  of  minerals  have 
been  detected :  they,  however,  form  but  a 
small  proportion  of  the  whole  mass  of  lava. 

While  pouring  fresh  from  the  crater  of  vol- 
canoes, competent  observers  describe  lava  as 
much  resembling  a  river  of  red-hot  metal 
issuing  from  an  immense  furnace.  No  real 
flame  rises  from  lava  alone, — though  trees, 
half-lighted  cinders,  and  other  matters,  fall- 
ing into  it,  take  fire  and  blaze  up.  In 
the  daytime  its  course  is  marked  by  a  thick 
white  smoke,  and  at  night  this  reflects  a 
light  from  the  red-hot  lava  below.  In  the 
crater  of  the  volcano  of  Kirauea,  in  Hawaii, 
one  of  the  Sandwich  Islands,  there  was  seen, 
in  1840,  a  lake  of  red-hot  lava,  two  miles 
in  circumference,  tossing  its  fiery  surge 
and  flaming  billows  in  terrific  forms.  This 
was  its  "  quiet  mood,"  when  only  a  half- 
smothered,  gurgling  sound — the  stifled  mut- 
terings  of  a  boiling  fluid — was  heard;  but 
occasionally  reports  like  those  of  musketry 
resounded.  Jets  of  lava  rose  ten  or  twelve 


"220  VOLCANIC    PRODUCTIONS. 

yards,  or  the  separate  pools  in  different  parts 
of  the  crater  boiled  over,  and  glowing  streams 
poured  out  for  a  while,  and  then  settled  down 
again  to  the  usual  "grum  murmur." 

This  being  the  "quiet  mood"  of  the  lava, 
we  may  well  imagine  what  its  noisy  moods 
must  be.  They  differ,  however,  at  different 
times.  Some  eruptions  of  lava  are  attended 
with  noise,  as  if  from  a  continued  discharge 
of  artillery  or  thunder,  and  flashes  of  elec- 
tricity resembling  lightning  are  seen  illumi- 
nating the  clouds  and  vapours ;  and  when 
poured  in  cataracts  of  fire  from  cliffs  into  the 
sea,  as  is  frequent  in  Hawaii,  Iceland  and 
elsewhere,  frightful  hissings  and  detonations 
mark  its  plunge  into  the  waters, — where  it 
kills  the  fish  for  twenty  miles  round,  and 
actually  cooks  them  by  the  heat  imparted  to 
the  waves. 

We  cannot  at  all  guess  the  quantity  of  lava 
there  may  be  in  any  volcanic  mountains ;  but 
there  is  reason  to  think  that  it  comes  from  an 
immense  depth  below  the  surface  of  the  earth ; 
as  from  Etna  alone  the  quantity  ejected  in 
1660  was  supposed  by  some  to  be  twenty 
times  greater  than  the  whole  mass  of  the 
mountain ;  and  in  1669  it  covered  eighty- four 


LAVA.  221 

square  miles,  destroying  seventy-seven  thou- 
sand persons.  The  matter  then  thrown  out, 
if  extended  in  a  thin  stream,  would  have 
reached  four  times  round  the  earth. 

On  first  issuing  from  the  crater,  lava 
often  flows  very  quickly;  for  Dr.  Judd,  who 
visited  the  volcano,  on  one  occasion  was  stand- 
ing close  by  one  of  the  molten  pools  of 
Kirauea,  when  it  suddenly  overflowed,  and  he 
had  barely  time  to  escape  from  a  stream 
of  lava,  which  not  only  covered  the  spot  on 
which  he  had  been  standing,  but  spread  over 
a  space  one  mile  wide  and  half  a  mile  long. 
Two  hundred  million  cubic  feet  of  lava  were 
ejected  on  that  occasion.  Its  pace  soon  slack- 
ens, from  the  stiffening  of  the  crust,  or  outside 
portion  of  the  mass.  After  flowing  a  hun- 
dred yards  or  so,  a  scum  forms  on  its  surface, 
bearing  cinders,  ashes,  and  even  stones  of  con- 
siderable size.  Sometimes  the  lava  finds  a 
passage  under  ground  for  some  distance,  and 
reappears,  cleared  of  this  scum.  But  it  soon 
gathers  upon  it  again,  and,  as  the  lava  cools 
and  loses  its  liquid  appearance,  it  rather 
resembles  a  moving  mass  of  red-hot  coals, 
heaped  up,  like  a  wall,  from  ten  or  twelve  feet 
high  to  two  hundred  and  more.  The  cinders 

19* 


222  VOLCANIC    PEODUCTIONS. 

rolling  from  above  keep  up  a  continual  noise, 
like  that  of  a  shingle  beach  when  moved  by 
the  action  of  the  waves.  The  scum  soon 
cools  into  a  thick  crust,  which  can  be  crossed 
by  foot-passengers, — though  at  the  risk  of  its 
burning  their  feet,  or  of  breaking  through  it: 
so  that  it  should  not  be  attempted  except  on 
extreme  emergencies,  such  as  being  unex- 
pectedly enclosed  by  two  streams  of  lava. 

Boiling  lava  is  much  hotter  than  boiling 
water,  though  how  much  is  not  ascertained, 
as  it  is  impossible  to  get  near  enough  to 
plunge  any  thermometer  into  the  hottest  por- 
tion of  it, — even  if  such  an  instrument  would 
bear  its  heat.  In  1822,  lava,  some  days  after 
its  eruption,  was  found  greatly  to  exceed 
boiling-water-heat  when  a  thermometer  was 
held  three  feet  distant  from  it.  Glass  and 
silver  melt  on  being  placed  in  fluid  lava;  lead 
becomes  fluid  in  four  minutes ;  while  double 
that  time  is  requisite  to  melt  a  mass  of  it 
upon  red-hot  iron.  When  bell-metal  was 
submitted  to  the  heat  of  lava,  in  1794,  the  zinc 
was  separated,  but  the  copper  remained  un- 
touched. Lava  is  a  bad  conductor  of  heat :  so 
that,  while  the  outer  surface  cools,  the  inner 
portion  retains  its  heat  for  a  long  period. 


VOLCANIC    PRODUCTIONS.  223 

Hence  copper  coins  are  enveloped  in  still  soft 
lava  by  the  guides  of  Vesuvius,  for  the  amuse- 
ment of  travellers ;  sticks  thrust  below  crusts 
that  have  been  cool  enough  to  walk  upon  for 
years,  readily  take  fire;  and  boiling  water 
issues  from  the  souffrieres  or  craters  of  vol- 
canoes that  have  been  extinct  beyond  the 
memory  of  man.  I  boiled  eggs  in  many  of 
these  fountains  in  the  souffriere  of  Montserrat 
in  1856,  which  no  one  then  living  in  the 
island  had  ever  known  in  active  eruption. 

It  is  quite  impossible  to  fix  any  date  to  the 
beginning  of  volcanic  action  on  our  globe. 
The  composition  and  condition  of  the  oldest 
rocks  leave  no  doubt  that  volcanoes  have 
existed  from  a  very  early  period  and  con- 
tributed extensively  in  preparing  the  surface 
of  the  globe  for  vegetable  and  animal  exist- 
ence. The  frequent  allusion  to  the  pheno- 
mena of  burning  mountains  in  the  Scriptures 
seems  to  imply  a  very  early  familiarity  with 
their  eruptions.  I  think  they  are  mentioned 
or  alluded  to  by  the  sacred  writers  in  texts 
such  as  these :  Job  says,  (chap,  xxviii.  5,) 
"  As  for  the  earth,  under  it  is  turned  up  as  it 
were  fire."  "The  flame  setteth  the  mountains 
on  fire."  (Ps.  Ixxxiii.  14.)  "He  toucheth 


224  VOLCANIC   PRODUCTIONS. 

the  hills,  and  they  smoke."  (Ps.  civ.  32.) 
"  Touch  the  mountains,  and  they  shall  smoke. " 
(Ps.  cxliv.  5.)  The  effect  of  volcanic  heat 
seems  in  view  when  Jeremiah  prophesies, 
"  The  mountains  shall  be  molten  as  wax 
before  the  fire;"  and  Micah  (i.  4)  adds,  "The 
valleys  shall  be  cleft  as  wax  before  the  fire, 
and  as  the  waters  that  are  poured  down  a 
steep  place."  All  the  horrors  of  a  volcanic 
eruption  are  depicted  by  the  prophet  Nahum, 
(i.  5-12 :) — "  The  mountains  quake  at  him,  and 
the  hills  melt,  and  the  earth  is  burned  at  his 
presence.  "Who  can  stand  before  his  indigna- 
tion ?  and  who  can  abide  in  the  fierceness  of 
his  anger?  His  fury  is  poured  out  like  fire, 
and  the  rocks  are  thrown  down  by  him. 
With  an  overrunning  flood  he  will  make  an 
utter  end  of  the  place  thereof,  and  darkness 
shall  pursue  his  enemies.  While  they  be 
folden  together  as  thorns,  and  while  they  are 
drunken  as  drunkards,  they  shall  be  devoured 
as  stubble  fully  dry.  Thus  saith  the  Lord, 
Though  they  be  quiet,  and  likewise  many,  yet 
thus  shall  they  be  cut  down  when  he  shall 
pass  through."  But,  amid  such  desolation,  how 
full  of  comfort  is  the  assurance,  (verse  7,) 
"The  Lord  is  a  stronghold  in  the  day  of 


VOLCANIC   ERUPTIONS.  225 

trouble ;  and  he  knoweth  them  that  trust  in 
him." 

Diodorus  Siculus  mentions  eruptions  of 
Mount  Etna  as  having  occurred  as  early  in 
history  as  in  1693  B.C.,  or  about  the  time  of 
Joseph.  The  ancient  heathen,  as  is  known 
from  classic  authors,  believed  these  mountains 
to  be  the  residence  of  the  god  Vulcan,  who, 
for  some  misdemeanour,  was  condemned  to 
forge  thunderbolts  for  his  superior's  weapons. 
They  were  called  "Vulcania"  by  Virgil;  and 
since  his  time  the  term  volcano  has  been 
adopted  for  all  such  mountains.  Mount  Ara- 
rat bears  evident  marks  of  volcanic  origin. 
Indeed,  as  granite  is  found  in  many  localities  as 
if  forced  up  from  great  depths  in  perpendicular 
streams,  much  as  lava  is  seen  to  be  raised  in 
modern  times,  Mount  Sinai,  and  other  moun- 
tain masses  of  granite,  may  have  been  up- 
heaved by  volcanic  action  in  very  early  times. 
It  is  evident  that  there  is  force  enough  in  a 
volcano  to  raise  large  masses  of  matter.  The 
volcano  Cotopaxi  has  been 'known  to  project 
a  stone  one  hundred  and  nine  cubic  yards  in 
volume  to  the  distance  of  nine  miles.  It  was 
the  celebrated  Von  Buch's  theory  that  all  vol- 
canoes were  burst  upward,  or  tilted  from  the 
p 


226  VOLCANIC   PEODUCTIONS. 

centre  outward  all  around;  but  it  has  been 
clearly  shown  that  this  was  a  mistake,  and 
that  Etna  has  been  built  up  by  successive  layers 
of  lava  and  cinders  thrown  up  around  its  vent. 

When  lava  cools,  it  becomes  too  solid  to 
flow  onward;  but  it  cools  so  slowly  that  lava 
ejected  from  Jorullo,  in  Mexico,  one  hundred 
years  ago,  is  not  yet  cold;  and  lava  from  the 
same  volcano  was  in  motion  after  the  lapse  of 
ten  years.  The  lava  from  Etna  in  1819  moved 
at  the  rate  of  a  yard  per  day  nine  month? 
after  the  eruption.  Advantage  has  been  some- 
times taken  of  this  to  save  cities  from  destruc- 
tion, by  breaking  a  new  way  for  the  lava 
through  its  hardened  walls.  The  temperature 
at  which  lava  continues  fluid  is  considerable 
enough  to  melt  glass  and  silver,  and  has  been 
found  to  melt  a  certain  mass  of  lead  in  four 
minutes,  which  it  required  double  that  time  to 
melt  when  laid  on  red-hot  iron. 

Streams  of  lava  are  long  in  changing  their 
character.  You  may  read  in  Rollin's  History 
that  the  Carthaginian  army  advancing  against 
Syracuse,  392  B.C.,  were  stopped  by  a  stream 
of  lava  flowing  into  the  sea  from  a  recent 
eruption  of  Etna,  and  compelled  to  go  round 
the  mountain.  That  very  stream  is  still  dis- 


LAVA.  227 

tinctly  traceable,  two  miles  wide  and  twenty- 
four  miles  long,  and  has  a  partial  coating  of 
vegetable  mould.  A  scattered  forest  now 
growing  on  it,  called  the  Bosco  di  Aci,  contains 
many  large  trees.  It  is  apparent,  also,  that  this 
stream  covered  other  lavas  of  a  still  more 
ancient  date.  Stromboli  has  been  recorded  as 
in  unceasing  activity  for  the  last  two  thousand 
years.  Its  lava  never  flows  out  of  the  top, 
but  always  through  a  side  fissure  into  the  sea. 

"When  lava  is  quite  cold,"  said  Edward, 
"how  does  it  change  into  such  different  sub- 
stances as  those  Mr.  T sent  us  ?  Obsidian 

looks  like  glass ;  pitch-stone  resembles  granite 
dipped  in  resin ;  basalt  is  a  hard,  black  rock ; 
and  cinders  and  pumice-stone  are  brittle 
enough  to  powder  in  my  fingers." 

Mr.  Goodman  remarked  that  the  mere  situa- 
tion and  circumstances  of  different  portions  of 
the  same  stream  of  lava  would  naturally  cause 
it  to  exhibit  various  appearances  from  the 
iifferent  times  and  places  of  its  cooling.  That 
cooled  from  a  perfectly  melted  state,  under 
great  pressure  and  out  of  reach  of  the  atmo- 
sphere, becomes  obsidian,  or  volcanic  glass. 
It  is  called  obsidian  merely  because  Obsidius 
was  the  name  of  an  Ethiopian  who  brought  it 


228  VOLCANIC   PRODUCTIONS. 

first  from  his  country  to  Kome  in  Pliny's  time. 
It  consists  of  silica,  alumina,  potash  and  oxide 
of  iron,  and  is,  you  see,  completely  vitrified,  as 
if  made  at  the  glass-works.  A  volcano  is,  in 
fact,  a  vast  natural  glass-manufactory,  using  the 
ordinary  materials  employed  in  glass-works. 
Obsidian  is  of  various  colours, — but  chiefly 
black  or  very  dark  green.  If  you  examine  a 
fragment  of  your's  through  the  microscope,  it 
seems  quite  clear,  except  the  tiny  air-bubbles 
such  as  we  see  in  glass,  for  it  really  is  natural 
glass,  and  in  small  specimens  is  quite  undis- 
tinguishable  from  that  of  the  glass-house.  In 
Mexico  and  Peru,  obsidian  is  used  for  hatchets, 
adzes  and  other  cutting-instruments,  as  well 
as  ring-stones  and  other  ornaments;  and  in 
Egypt  the  priests  used  it  for  sacrifices  long 
after  metal  knives  were  invented. 

Here  is  some  more  lava,  said  Mr.  Goodman, 
(picking  out  a  piece,)  looking  like  gray  marble, 
only  the  markings  are  more  spotted  and 
circular  than  those  of  marble  generally  are. 
That  is  lava  cooled  slowly  and  quietly,  and 
crystallized.  The  markings  are  caused  by  the 
different  substances  mingling  with  it, — a  little 
metal  in  some  lavas,  olivine,  leucite,  mica,  or 
quartz  in  others,  with  a  large  proportion  of 


LAVA.  229 

felspar,  or  augite.  A  predominance  of  felspar 
produces  light-coloured  lava;  of  augite,  darker 
shades.  These  lavas  are  hard  enough  to 
be  quarried  and  used  for  building-purposes. 
Many  varieties  will  take  a, high  polish,  and 
are  pretty  enough  to  be  carved  into  ornaments, 
tables  and  boxes. 

Alice  observed  that  they  had  a  little  book 
made  of  lava  from  Pompeii. 

Mr.  Goodman  remarked  that  the  streets  of 
ancient  Pompeii  were  paved  with  blocks  of 
lava,  and  many  of  its  houses  were  built  of  the 
same  materials ;  while  the  city  of  Herculaneum 
is  completely  imbedded  in  the  stony  mass ;  for, 
as  it  stood  nearer  the  volcano,  it  received  the 
hottest  and  most  completely  melted  lava.  The 
city  of  Clermont,  in  Middle  France,  is  built  of 
black  lava,  and  has  the  appearance  of  a  city 
in  mourning  for  some  public  calamity.  Many 
lavas  exactly  resemble,  in  colour,  marking 
and  texture,  the  slags  of  iron  and  copper 
smelting-furnaces,  and  dispose  themselves  in 
heaps  of  singular  form.  The  colours,  black, 
ash-coloured,  gray,  blue,  or  greenish,  depend 
on  the  admixture  of  metals.  All  these  com- 
pact or  vitreous  lavas  will  strike  fire;  some, 
especially  the  dark  portions,  are  magnetic;  and 
20 


230  VOLCANIC   PRODUCTIONS. 

all  will  melt  into  the  same  kind  of  opaque 
glass. 

Those  lumps  of  half-burnt  stuff  full  of  holes 
are  specimens  of  cellular  lava,  and  appear  to 
have  been  heated  only  enough  to  expel  the 
fixed  air  contained  within  the  clayey  particles. 
These  holes,  or  cells,  are  now  often  filled  with 


quartz,  agate,  or  carbonate  of  lime  which  has 
percolated  into  them  and  been  crystallized 
there.  Sometimes  they  are  almond-shaped, 
and,  when  hard  enough  to  be  cut  and  polished 
as  a  solid  stone,  it  is  called  amygdaloid,  from 
the  Greek  word  amygdala,  an  almond.  Be- 
sides lava,  great  quantities  of  scoriae,  or  cin- 


LAVA.  231 

ders,  are  usually  produced  and  ejected  during 
volcanic  eruptions.  They  are  either  black, 
brown,  reddish,  or  gray,  and,  except  for  the 
occasional  traces  of  metal,  scarcely  differ  from 
the  cinders  of  common  furnaces.  Indeed, 
glass  and  metal  slags  exhibit  just  these  dif- 
ferences, according  as  they  are  cooled  quickly 
or  slowly,  under  pressure  or  exposed  to  wind 
and  weather. 

Lava  decomposes  under  the  influence  of  the 
atmosphere,  and  becomes  a  fertile  soil :  hence 
the  luxuriance  of  the  vineyards  in  volcanic 
regions.  The  same  fertility  is  seen  when  the 
slag  of  our  furnaces  has  been  decomposed  by 
the  like  cause. 

Fine  dust  and  ashes  are  frequently  pro- 
jected from  volcanic  craters  in  vast  quan- 
tities, so  as  not  only  to  overwhelm  the  neigh- 
bouring regions,  but  the  lighter  particles  are 
often  carried  hundreds  of  miles.  Sir  Stam- 
ford Raffles  describes  a  fall  of  ashes  and  dust 
from  the  volcano  of  Tomboro,  in  Sumbawa,  in 
1815,  as  destroying  substantial  houses  forty 
miles  off.  The  eruption  was  attended  with 
such  loud  reports  as  to  attract  attention  at 
Macassar,  two  hundred  and  seventeen  miles  dis- 
tant, where  it  was  supposed  that  pirates  were 


232  VOLCANIC   PEODUCTIONS. 

fighting.  A  ship  with  troops  was  despatched  to 
look  after  them.  This  ship  soon  became  en- 
veloped in  "  showers  of  light  dust,  which  so  ob- 
scured the  light  that  at  mid-day  it  was  impos- 
sible to  see  the  hand  when  held  close  to  the 
face;"  and  the  ship's  progress  was  impeded  by 
the  cinders,  pumice  and  burnt  trees  and  logs 
floating  on  the  water.  The  dust  penetrated 
every  part  of  the  ship,  lying  in  heaps  a  foot 
thick  on  the  deck.  It  had  a  faint  smell,  but 
was  perfectly  tasteless,  and  when  moistened 
formed  a  tenacious  mud,  very  difficult  to  wash 
off.  It  was  therefore  a  very  disagreeable 
shower  to  encounter. 

Sometimes,  when  boiling  lava  is  projected 
high  into  the  air,  (as  is  frequent  in  Kirauea,) 
the  wind  catches  it  and  cools  it  in  thin  sheets, 
or  spins  it  out  into  delicate  fibres,  so  that  it 
lies  like  mown  grass.  The  natives  call  this 
the  hair  of  Pe'le',  the  goddess  who,  they  be- 
lieve, presides  over  this  volcano.  Sometimes 
this  lava  falls  amidst  forests,  and  hangs  from 
the  branches  in  the  form  of  stalactites. 

When  gathered  in  fibrous  masses,  it  is  called 
pumice-stone,  which  is  used  in  the  arts  for 
polishing  metal,  wood,  pasteboard  and  stone, 
and  for  smoothing  parchment.  It  is  con- 


SULPHUR.  233 

tinually  used,  too,  by  practical  philosopher? 
and  chemists,  for  getting  ink  or  any  stains  off 
the  hands,  and  it  generally  makes  them  feel 
soft  and  smooth.  Its  fibrous  make  fits  it  for 
gently  scraping  off  the  outer  skin,  and,  with  it, 
any  adhering  stains.  Pumice  is  so  abundant 
in  the  Lipari  Islands  as  to  be  quarried  in 
large  flakes,  which  are  used  for  roofing ;  and 
puzzulana,  a  sort  of  half-burnt  earth  found 
very  extensively  in  Italy,  France,  England 
and  many  other  countries,  seems  to  have  been 
projected  from  volcanoes,  and  is  useful  for 
building  under  water.  Powdered,  it  is  valued 
as  a  cement  for  lighthouses,  &c.,  as  it  suddenly 
hardens  when  mixed  with  lime  and  water,  and 
is  extremely  durable  even  when  constantly 
wetted  afterwards. 

Mr.  Goodman  went  on  to  say  that  brim- 
stone, or  sulphur,  comes  from  volcanoes  too, 
of  which  he  had  brought  some  specimens  from 
the  souffriere  at  Montserrat.  It  is  found 
most  abundantly  in  volcanic  regions, — espe- 
cially where  the  volcanoes  are  still  active.  It 
occurs  either  as  an  efflorescence  or  powder 
sprinkled  on  the  surface  of  the  ground,  or  in 
masses  mingled  with  clay,  ashes  and  other 
volcanic  products.  In  Sicily  there  are  mines 

20* 


234  VOLCANIC   PRODUCTIONS. 

of  sulphur,  whence  it  is  exported  in  large 
square  blocks.  Great  quantities,  too,  are 
obtained  from  the  crater  of  an  ancient  vol- 
cano near  Naples,  called  the  Solfatara,  where 
the  ground  appears  perfectly  yellow  with  it. 
In  Iceland,  mountains  are  composed  entirely 
of  clay  and  sulphur,  the  surface  of  which  is 
covered  with  a  beautiful  crust  of  crystallized 
sulphur,  varying  from  a  quarter  of  an  inch 
to  several  inches  in  thickness,  under  which 
wooden  planks  are  sometimes  found  covered 
with  crystals ;  but  steam  and  vapours  prevent 
examination  to  any  great  depth.  In  Armenia 
the  natives  shoot  down  masses  of  volcanic 
sulphur  from  the  tall  cliffs  inaccessible  to  the 
foot  and  hand  of  man. 

Sulphur  is'  also  obtained,  by  collecting  it  as 
vapour,  from  many  melted  minerals.  As  it 
cools,  the  sulphur  descends  in  a  fine  powder, 
or  adheres  in  crystals  to  any  convenient  sub- 
stance. When  it  is  thus  artificially  procured, 
the  process  is  termed  subliming.  Sulphur  is 
used  in  Britain  for  making  gunpowder,  cin- 
nabar and  sulphuric  acid,  and  for  bleaching 
straw.  It  is  also  used  medicinally.  Twenty 
thousand  tons  are  annually  imported  for  our 
supply.  Reports  respecting  recent  eruptions 


PITCH-STONE.  235 

of  lava  from  Vesuvius  mention  many  inte- 
resting deposits  of  sulphuric  efflorescence,  as 
well  as  great  quantities  of  muriate  of  soda,  or 
common  salt,  which  seems  always  rapidly 
formed  during  volcanic  activity. 

Pitch- stone  is  a  variety  of  lava  composed  of 
felspar  and  augite,  and  generally  has  a  green- 
ish tinge  and  shining  hue,  as  if  varnished. 
Under  the  microscope  it  glitters  like  granite. 
It  more  nearly  resembles  basalt,  and  is  by 
some  considered  as  an  intermediate  stage 
towards  that  hard  rock. 

"Oh,  Edward,"  exclaimed  Alice,  "there 
was  a  piece  of  basalt  in  the  box,  and  we 

thought  Mr.  T must  have  sent  it  by 

mistake  for  some  volcanic  cinder." 

Mr.  Goodman  replied  that  it  was  no  mis- 
take; for,  since  the  effects  of  volcanic  heat 
have  been  more  extensively  watched,  it  seems 
to  explain  the  origin  of  many  rocks  which 
had  formerly  greatly  puzzled  inquirers ;  and 
many  of  these,  among  which  are  basalt  and 
trap,  are  now  considered  to  be  of  igneous  form- 
ation,— that  is,  to  have  been  melted  under 
great  heat.  Many  interesting  experiments 
have  been  tried  by  melting  basalt  and  cooling 
it  either  quickly  into  glass  or  slowly  into 


236  VOLCANIC   PRODUCTIONS. 

stone.  By  adding  carbonate  of  lime,  slates 
and  shales  have  thus  been  converted  into 
excellent  pumice-stone. 

The  trap — or,  in  German,  trapp — rocks  are 
so  called  from  the  German  word  treppe,  a 
stair,  because  they  generally  occur  in  a  series 
of  steps  or  terraces,  accounted  for  by  con- 
sidering them  as  successive  streams  of  molten 
rock  hardened  over  one  another  and  eroded 
so  as  to  terminate  in  abrupt  descents. 

All  the  basalts  and  traps  consist  chiefly  of 
silica, — although  other  substances  mingle  in 
them  in  small  proportions.  They  seem  to  have 
acquired  their  peculiar  aspect,  so  different  from 
that  of  modern  lavas,  from  having  cooled  under 
water  or  been  forced  into  other  strata  while 
excluded  from  the  air.  Some  of  the  varieties 
of  greenstone,  whinstone  and  millstone  are 
valuable  on  account  of  their  hardness,  either 
for  grinding  metals  and  corn,  or  for  building 
and  paving,  and  when  well  broken,  they  make 
excellent  macadamized  roads.  They  are  as  dura- 
ble as  granite,  though,  from  their  close  grain 
and  dingy  colour,  not  nearly  so  pretty.  Basalt 
occurs  in  many  parts  of  the  world  among 
ancient  igneous  rocks,  forming  the  isolated 
caps  of  hills,  and  resting  upon  other  rocks,  as 


BASALT. 


237 


if  it  were  part  of  some  great  sheet,  the  most 
of  which  has  been  destroyed.  The  largest 
space  it  occupies  continuously  seems  to  be  in 
India,  where  there  are  outspreading  rocks  of 
it  covering  an  area  of  two  hundred  thousand 
square  miles. 


VOLCANIC  DIKE. 


PORTION  OF  THE  DIKE,  SHOWING 
ITS  BASALTIC  PRISMS. 


These  specimens,  by  their  labels,  come  from 
the  Giants'  Causeway  in  Ireland,  and  from 
Fingal's  Cave,  at  Staffa,  in  the  Hebrides ;  but 
they  look  very  much  alike ;  and,  indeed,  those 
localities  are  both  remarkable,  for  their  long 
ranges  of  regular-shaped  columns.  Similar 
basaltic  columns  are  found  in  a  valley  of  the  Vi- 
varais,  in  the  south  of  France,  and  near  Vicenza, 
in  Italy,  and  seem  to  have  been  caused  by  a  kind 


238  VOLCANIC   PRODUCTIONS. 

of  coarse  crystallization,  owing  to  the  slowness 
with  which  the  melted  basalt  cooled.  Some 
of  these  columns  are  upright,  and  appear 
jointed  as  accurately  as  if  by  the  stonemason's 
rule ;  qthers  are  curved  as  if  they  had  crys- 
tallized while  in  motion.  They  are  also  occa- 
sionally seen  in  horizontal  layers, — as  the 
chimney  of  St.  Helena,  sixty-four  feet  high, 
which  is  evidently  a  portion  of  some  narrow 
dike  of  similar  formation. 


CHEESE-GROTTO. 


Sometimes  the  basalt  assumes  the  form  of  a 
perfect  globe,  so  that  the  rock  seems  made  of  a 
pile  of  cannon-balls ;  in  other  instances  these 
balls  are  flattened,  and  stand  one  upon  another, 
like  a  pile  of  cheeses,  as  is  the  case  with  the 


BASALT.  239 

pillars  of  the  cheese-grotto  between  Treves 
and  Coblentz.  Many  other  rocks  assume  this 
globular  form.  Greenstone  and  pitch-stone 
sometimes  exhibit  it  when  decomposing.  On 
Ascension  Island,  and  in  one  of  the  Ponga 


GLOBIFORM  PITCH-STONE. 


Islands  of  the  Mediterranean,  are  rocks  full 
of  these  balls,  varying  in  size  from  a  few 
inches  to  three  feet  in  diameter,  some  of 
which,  after  exposure  to  the  weather  for  a 
short  time,  will  scale  off  at  a  touch  into  nume- 
rous concentric  coats,  like  those  of  an  onion, 
enclosing  a  compact  nucleus  in  the  middle; 
but  a  few  harder  blows  will  make  this  too 
shell  or  scale  off  like  the  outside.  Those  in 
Ascension  Island  have  a  compact,  hard  shell, 
with  a  hollow  interior,  and  are  called  volcanic 


240 


VOLCANIC    PBODUCTIONS. 


bombs.  The  river  Flu  via,  in  Spain,  cuts 
through  a  bed  of  ancient  lava  to  the  depth  of 
about  one  hundred  and  thirty  feet.  On  the 
edge  of  the  precipice  stands  the  town  of  Gas- 
sell  Follit.  The  cliff  is  so  abrupt  that  its 


SECTION  OF  CASSELL  FOLLIT. 


composition  is  easily  visible,  and  it  seems  that 
the  lava  immediately  under  the  town  is  sco- 
riaceous  or  cindery;  under  that  is  spheroid 
basalt, — that  is,  basalt  in  a  globular  form. 
Beneath  this  is  a  more  compact  basalt,  with 
crystals  of  olivine.  There  are  five  distinct 
layers  of  basalt  in  all, — the  uppermost  sphe- 
roid, the  rest  prismatic  or  columnar, — each 
separated  by  thinner  layers  more  compact. 


BASALT.  241 

Most  probably  they  were  formed  by  suc- 
cessive flows  of  lava,  either  during  the  erup- 
tion, or  at  different  periods.  The  whole  mass 
rests  upon  alluvium,  ten  or  twelve  feet  thick, 
consisting  of  pebbles  of  limestone  and  quartz, 
but  without  any  mixture  of  the  igneous  rocks, 
which  mingle,  however,  in  the  modern  gravel 
of  the  same  river. 

We  have  in  the  United  States  innumerable 
trap  dikes,  such  as  Mounts  Tom  and  Holyoke  at 
Northampton,  in  Massachusetts,  East  Rock  at 
New  Haven,  the  Palisades  of  the  Hudson,  and 
a  hundred  other  hills,  almost  deserving  the  name 
of  mountains,  along  the  belt  of  country  occupied 
by  the  red  sandstone  of  Newark  and  Norris- 
town.  At  first  there  seems  to  be  some  close 
connection  between  this  kind  of  rock  and  the 
trap  dikes.  But  we  find  multitudes  of  little 
dikes  penetrating  the  country  on  each  side,  the 
Highlands  or  Blue  Ridge,  and  the  Philadel- 
phia, and  Baltimore  and  Richmond  hills,  to  the 
southeast.  In  the  iron -mines  of  New  Jersey 
and  Pennsylvania  small  straight  walls  of  green- 
stone trap  are  left  exposed,  standing  at  inter- 
vals across  the  pits.  But  the  trap  hills  of  the 
New  Red  country  seem  to  have  been  formed 
by  this  ancient  lava  having  lifted  up  the 

Q  21 


242  VOLCANIC   PRODUCTIONS. 

layers  and  flowed  out  sideways.  When  their 
edges  were  washed  away,  the  prismatic  crystals 
of  lava,  much  ruder  and  larger  than  those  of 
the  Giants'  Causeway,  were  left  to  show  them- 
selves ;  and  when  the  sun  is  right  for  it,  these 
are  to  be  grandly  seen,  like  mighty  columns, 
upon  the  face  of  the  Palisades. 

Great  outbursts  of  trap  accompany  the 
copper-ores  of  Lake  Superior ;  and  many 
more  occur  in  Canada.  Trap  is  a  very  com- 
mon rock  in  the  great  West  beyond  the  Kocky 
Mountains,  where  it  lies  in  level  sheets,  form- 
ing mountain-terraces. 

Edward  asked  what  would  happen  if  hot 
lava  passed  through  or  over  any  rock  that 
was  easily  changed  by  heat. 

That  has  been  thought  of  and  investigated, 
said  Mr.  Goodman;  and  great  changes  have 
been  observed.  For  instance,  a  greenstone 
dike,  or  vein,  passing  through  a  bed  of  coal  in 
Antrim,  has  reduced  it  to  a  cinder  for  the 
space  of  nine  feet  on  either  side.  At  Cockfield 
Fell,  in  the  north  of  England,  a  similar  change 
is  observable  near  a  dike  of  trap, — the  coals 
near  to  it  being  perfect  coke,  while  those 
immediately  touching  it  are  converted  into  a 
substance  resembling  soot.  At  Salisbury 


VOLCANOES.  243 

Crag,  near  Edinburgh,  a  sandstone  which 
comes  in  contact  with  greenstone  is  changed 
into  a  sort  of  jasper.  In  other  places,  chalk 
has  been  changed  into  fine  marble,  red  sand- 
stone into  hornstone,  clay-slate  into  flinty 
slate,  by  the  heat  of  some  melted  rock  which 
has  intruded  into  those  substances ;  and  these 
changes  have  exhibited  every  stage  of  progress, 
from  the  distinct  materials  on  either  side,  to 
the  unchanged  molten  rock  in  the  centre  of 
the  dike.  These  changes  are  easily  under- 
stood by  any  one  who  has  watched  the  effects 
of  fire  and  heat  in  potteries  or  glass  and 
metal  furnaces,  or  of  heated  and  acid  waters 
in  chemists'  vats. 

It  seems  likely  that  volcanoes  must  have 
existed  almost  everywhere  in  the  world  at 
some  time  or  other,  since  so  many  different 
rocks  are  produced  by  their  influence ;  and  now, 
if  you  will  just  take  a  map  of  the  world,  and 
mark  out  with  any  colour  the  regions  where 
volcanoes  are  known  to  be  still  active,  you 
will  be  astonished  to  find  the  long  line  of 
vents  you  must  mark  on  the  edges  of  the 
continents,  not  only  on  the  side  of  the  Atlantic 
Ocean,  but  thickly  scattered  in  both  the  In- 
dian and  Pacific  Oceans;  while  if  you  use  a 


244  VOLCANIC   PKODUCTIONS. 

second  colour,  to  distinguish  the  regions  of 
extinct  volcanic  action,  you  will  add  a  large 
portion  of  Europe,  Asia  Minor,  Persia,  and  the 
Holy  Land;  and  in  China  the  natural  springs 
of  gas  and  naphtha  induce  the  belief  that 
volcanic  action  was  formerly  powerful  there. 

All  the  young  people  were  struck  with  this 
remark,  and  declared  they  would  make  maps 
of  that  sort  for  their  own  gratification. 

Mr.  Goodman  remarked  that  tuff,  tufa  and 
trass  are  other  stones,  produced  by  the  con- 
cretion of  the  ashes,  or  fine  powder,  ejected 
from  volcanoes,  and  falling  either  into  the  sea 
or  on  the  earth,  where  it  gradually  becomes, 
by  the  influence  of  the  weather,  hardened  into 
masses  firm  enough  to  take  a  beautiful  polish. 
Sometimes  they  contain  shells,  and  are  then 
accounted  more  curious  and  valuable.  Many 
garnets,  agates  and  other  pretty  stones  are 
formed  in  volcanic  regions,  and  are  sold  at 
Naples  as  gems  from  Vesuvius.  They  gene- 
rally consist  of  silica  and  alumina,  and  are  not 
essentially  different  from  Oriental  precious 
stones.  Many  gases  generally  escape  when 
volcanoes  are  in  eruption.  From  the  mingling 
of  these  water  is  often  formed,  which,  descend- 
ing in  showers  of  hot  rain,  transforms  the 


VOLCANOES.  245 

lava  into  mud.  Noxious  vapours,  called  mo- 
fetes,  frequently  break  out  from  old  lavas 
before  new  eruptions  occur.  These  vapours 
often  fill  the  wells  and  pits  in  the  neighbour- 
hood, and  so  affect  the  throat  and  nostrils  that 
they  soon  prove  fatal  to  men  or  animals  im- 
bibing them. 

With  regard  to  the  fire  that  supplies  the  vol- 
canoes, various  conjectures  have  been  formed 
on  the  subject,  and  many  interesting  experi- 
ments tried,  to  prove  whether  there  is  any 
store  of  fire  in  the  centre  of  the  earth,  or 
whether  volcanic  combustion  arises  from  the 
meeting  of  gases  usually  kept  apart;  but 
nothing  is  yet  ascertained.  Believers  in  reve- 
lation, however,  know  from  God's  word  that 
the  element  of  fire,  unmanageable  as  it  is  by 
men  in  any  volume,  is  under  the  perfect  con- 
trol of  its  great  Creator;  and,  having  his  own 
assurance  of  his  superintending  care  and  pro- 
tection, we  may  feel  perfectly  safe  in  his  keep- 
ing; for  even  if  this  earth  and  all  that  is 
therein  should  be  burned  up,  and  melt  with 
fervent  heat,  there  will  remain  the  promised 
new  earth  and  new  heaven,  wherein  dwelleth 
righteousness,  and  where  all  true  believers  in 
the  Saviour  will  be  in  safety  and  peace  forever. 
21* 


246  GEMS. 


CHAPTER  X. 

GEMS. 

A  VALUABLE  cabinet  of  minerals  was  left  as 
a  legacy  to  a  friend  of  Mr.  Goodman's,  and 
his  young  people  were  soon  invited  to  inspect 
it, — when  they  rejoiced  in  the  opportunity  of 
seeing  many  specimens  of  which  hitherto 
they  had  only  read.  One  compartment  con- 
tained a  brilliant  collection  of  gems,  at  which 
Alice  exclaimed, — 

"Oh,  Mrs.  B ,  why  do  you  not  have 

those  beautiful  things  set  in  gold,  and  wear 
them  as  ornaments?" 

"Nay,  my  dear,"  she  replied:  "they  would- 
then  only  be  trinkets  for  my  personal  orna- 
ment. Now,  collected  here  and  seen  in  their 
native  simplicity,  they  are  more  useful  as 
specimens  of  God's  abundant  power  and 
bounty  in  forming  objects  of  such  beauty 
even  under  ground;  for  they  are  but  stones, 
valued  chiefly  for  their  rarity,  or  the  dif- 


GEMS.  247 

ficulty  of  raising  them  from  their  hidden 
homes." 

This  remark  made  a  great  impression  upon 
Alice;  and  she  failed  not  to  repeat  it  to  her 
father  in  her  glowing  description  of  Mrs. 
B 's  gems. 

Mr.  Goodman  rejoined  that  these  glittering 
jewels  are  but  stones;  yet  their  natural 
beauty  is  so  admirable,  their  durability  so 
prolonged,  and  the  difficulty  of  obtaining 
them  so  great,  that  in  all  ages  of  the  world 
they  have  been  accounted  precious  by  man, 
and  represent  wealth  in  small  compass.  Even 
the  patriarch  Job  speaks  of  "the  precious 
onyx,  the  crystal,  the  sapphire,  the  ruby,  and 
the  topaz  of  Ethiopia,"  as  ornaments  of  the 
highest  price  for  the  " jewels"  and  "diadems" 
of  his  day.  (Job  xxviii.  16-19.)  Every  collec- 
tion of  Egyptian  and  Assyrian  antiquities 
proves  that  the  twelve  varieties  of  gems  set 
in  the  Jewish  high-priest's  breastplate  (Exod. 
xxviii.  17,  20)  were  well  known,  and  compara- 
tively abundant,  in  the  earliest  periods  of  civil- 
ization; while  Tyre  (Ezek.  xxviii.  13)  traded 
in  diamonds,  sapphires,  emeralds,  the  sardius, 
onyx,  topaz,  beryl,  jasper  and  carbuncle,  not 
only  for  ornament,  but  use;  and  Jeremiah's 


248  GEMS. 

assertion  (xvii.  1)  that  "the  sin  of  Judah  was 
written  with  the  point  of  a  diamond/'  indi- 
cates that  a  pen,  or  writing-style,  of  such 
material,  was  not  uncommon. 

Edward  inquired  whether  these  stones  are 
found  in  mines  and  veins,  like  metals,  remark- 
ing that  he  had  read  of  diamond-mines. 

Mr.  Goodman  said  that  there  are  diamond- 
mines,  certainly ;  but  they  are  found  very  fre- 
quently in  detached  geodes,  or  hollow  nodules 
of  agate,  enclosing  crystals  of  various  sorts, 
or  only  a  drop  of  water  or  morsel  of  bitumen. 
The  diamond  geodes  are  generally  in  the 
rocky  regions  of  tropical  countries  only. 
Brazil  and  Golconda  have  hitherto  yielded 
the  principal  specimens, — though  lately  some 
have  been  found  in  the  Uralian  Mountains  of 
the  more  temperate  zone.  Some  diamonds  have 
been  found  in  North  and  South  Carolina,  in 
connection  with  a  very  curious  sandstone 
called  Itacolumite,  which  can  be  bent,  and 
even  stretched  like  India-rubber,  a  very 
small  distance,  feeling  to  the  hand  as  if  its 
grains  of  sand  were  jointed  or  hooked  into 
each  other.  The  largest  (supposed)  diamond  ever 
found  in  the  United  States,  weighing  twenty- 
four  carats,  was  said  to  be  found  in  the  gravel 


DIAMONDS.  249 

near  Richmond.  The  alluvial  deposit  of 
gravel  and  sand  on  the  river  Jenquetinhonha, 
in  Brazil,  contains  so  many  of  these  gems 
that  regular  works  are  established  for  wash- 
ing them  out  of  it.  The  largest  ever  known 
was  found  there,  (if  it  is  indeed  a  genuine 
diamond,)  and  belongs  to  the  sovereign  of 
Portugal:  it  weighs  sixteen  hundred  and 
eighty  carats.  A  carat  weighs  four  grains : 
consequently  this  diamond  must  weigh  more 
than  eleven  ounces. 

The  next  in  value  was  found  in  India,  and 
was  formerly  the  eye  of  an  idol  in  Malabar, 
from  which  it  was  stolen  by  a  French  soldier, 
and,  after  passing  through  several  hands,  was 
eventually,  in  1776,  purchased  for  the  Em- 
peror of  Russia,  and  now  adorns  the  sceptre 
of  that  country.  Four  large  uncut  diamonds 
formed  the  clasp  of  Charlemagne's  cloak. 

The  famous  Koh-i-noor  diamond  was  one 
curiosity  at  the  Great  Exhibition  of  1851; 
but  most  people  were  disappointed  in  its  ap- 
pearance. However,  much  depended  upon 
the  time  of  day  and  sort  of  weather  in  which 
it  was  examined:  its  beauty  was  most  ap- 
parent between  two  and  three  o'clock,  when 
the  sun's  rays  fell  upon  it.  This  "  mountain 


250  GEMS. 

of  light/'  as  its  name  implies,  belonged  to 
Eunjeet  Sing,  and  was  deemed  so  valuable 
that,  when  worn,  other  jewels  were  dispensed 
with.  It  was  given  up  to  the  East  India 
Company  for  the  Queen  of  England  when  the 
Punjaub  was  surrendered,  and,  in  its  rough 
state,  appeared  to  be  only  a  portion — about 
one-third — of  the  original  crystal.  Tavernier, 
a  French  traveller  to  India  in  1676,  describes 
the  Koh-i-noor  of  his  day  as  weighing  much 
more  and  being  broken  or  cut  into  separate 
pieces.  Two  diamonds,  one  in  Coochan,  and 
the  great  Russian  diamond  I  just  mentioned, 
so  singularly  correspond  with  the  one  exhi- 
bited in  1851,  that  it  is  considered  by  com- 
petent judges  as  not  improbable  that  they 
once  formed  the  one  great  crystal  described 
by  Tavernier. 

The  Queen's  Koh-i-noor  diamond  has  been 
successfully  cut  and  polished, — an  operation 
which  occupied  thirty-eight  days,  with  twelve 
hours'  work  per  day,  without  intermission. 
There  were  one  or  two  flaws  which  it  was 
desirable  to  remove;  and  some  parts  of  the 
stone  were  so  extremely  hard  that  in  six 
hours'  time,  with  the  wheel  revolving  two 
thousand  four  hundred  times  per  minute, 


DIAMONDS. 


251 


scarcely  any  progress  was  made;  and  the 
diamond  became  so  hot  from  the  friction  that 
it  melted  the  pewter  setting  which  held  it; 


KOH-I-NOOR  DIAMOND  BEFORE  CUTTING. 


UPPER  SURFACE. 


AFTER    CUTTING. 


UNDER  SURFACE. 


and  the  mill  itself  was  so  heated  that 
particles  of  iron  mixed  with  the  diamond- 
powder  and  oil  became  ignited.*  The  dia- 

*  Report  from  Messrs.  Garrard,  the  lapidaries,  1852. 


252  GEMS. 

mond  itself,  suspended  between  supporters  to 
show  the  facets  on  both  sides,  is  lodged  among 
the  crown  jewels  in  the  Tower  of  London,  while 
models  of  it  in  its  former  and  present  state  are 
deposited  in  the  British  Museum.  It  looks 
much  smaller  now  that  it  is  cut.  The  figures 
show  its  exact  size  both  before  and  since  the 
operation. 

Generally  diamonds  lose  about  half  their 
weight  in  cutting;  and  the  dust  and  refuse 
are  worth  fifty  pounds  an  ounce.  The  beauty 
of  diamonds  is  not  visible  when  first  dug  out 
of  the  earth, — from  the  yellowish  or  reddish 
crust  which  adheres  so  firmly  to  them  that  it 
is  separated  with  difficulty.  The  most  purely 
transparent  are  deemed  the  best;  though  the 
deep  red,  yellow,  and  blue,  or  green,  are 
highly  esteemed.  There  are  also  black  and 
brown  diamonds;  but  they  are  more  curious 
than  pretty. 

Diamonds  are  almost  the  hardest  of  all  pre- 
cious stones,  and  are  by  some  supposed  to  be 
the  "adamant"  of  the  ancients.  They  can  be 
cut  and  polished  only  by  diamond-dust.  Small 
ones,  called  natural  sparks,  are  found  abun- 
dantly in  the  sand  of  the  river  Gonal,  which 


DIAMONDS.  253 

runs  from  high  mountains  into  the  river 
Ganges.  When  its  waters  have  subsided  and 
cleared  after  the  heavy  rains  of  December, 
the  whole  population  search  for  diamonds. 
The  most  promising  spot  is  selected,  when  the 
sand  is  dammed  up  and  carefully  examined, 
all  the  labourers  being  watched,  to  prevent  the 
gems  being  swallowed, — which  is  the  usual 
method  of  concealing  them.  All  work  without 
clothes.  It  is  said  that  in  ten  thousand  dia- 
monds only  one  is  found  weighing  more  than 
twenty  carats,  as,  though  numerous,  they  are 
generally  exceedingly  small. 

Diamonds  are  distinguished  from  other 
gems  pretty  accurately  by  their  hardness, 
form  of  crystal,  and  other  properties,  also  by 
their  chemical  composition.  Each  gem  crystal- 
lizes in  certain  forms  exclusively,  so  that 
frequently  its  form  at  once  determines  its 
nature:  when  found  in  various  shapes,  they 
are  usually  parts  of  the  original  or  perfect 
figure.  The  diamond  when  rubbed  phos- 
phorizes,  and  becomes  positively  electrical, 
and  is  therefore  a  non-conductor  of  electricity ; 
when  heated  without  the  contact  of  air,  it 

suffers  no  change;  but,  if  ignited  in  contact 
22 


254  GEMS. 

with  air,  it  is  totally  converted  into  carbonic 
acid  gas. 

"  Isn't  that  very  strange  ?"  said  Edward. 

Mr.  Goodman  replied  that  in  this  respect  it 
differs  from  all  other  gems.  Chemists  have 
proved  that  it  actually  consists  of  crystallized 
carbon,  and  therefore  is  naturally  consumed 
by  fire,  while  other  gems  resist  its  influence, 
and  are  often  recovered  from  the  ashes  after 
fires  have  destroyed  the  jewel-boxes. 

Alice  asked  if  the  chemists  can  turn  carbon 
into  diamonds. 

They  have  not  yet  entirely  succeeded, — though 
they  have  produced  very  beautiful  crystals.  The 
peculiar  brilliancy  of  the  diamond  is  owing  to 
its  great  power  of  reflecting  light.  It  writes 
on  glass,  as  you  know,  and  scratches  all 
known  minerals.  Hence,  glaziers  use  it  for 
cutting  window-panes.  The  black,  dirty  and 
imperfect  diamonds  are  powdered  for  grind- 
ing and  polishing  other  gems ;  and  small  por- 
tions are  used  as  pivots  for  the  delicate  wheel- 
work  of  watches.  The  Hindoos  value  dia- 
monds, and  some  other  gems,  as  charms,  be- 
yond all  money  price;  and  they  are  pierced, 
and  worn  about  the  person  as  talismans  to 
preserve  from  lightning,  to  avert  danger, 


DIAMONDS.  255 

dispel  melancholy,  or  inspire  courage  and  insure 
honour  and  riches.* 

Diamonds  are  found  in  certain  particular, 
though  diversified,  forms.  Sometimes  they  are 
in  rolled  pieces,  which  of  course  need  cutting 
or  grinding  into  shape.  They  also  occur  in 
fourteen  variations  of  crystals,  either  cubic, 
pyramidal,  or  octahedral.  They  are  generally 
cut,  either  by  sawing  with  a  very  fine  saw  of 
soft  iron,  while  the  diamond  is  kept  well 
moistened  with  diamond-dust  and  vinegar,  or 
they  are  ground  on  a  fine  wheel,  which  is 
worked  at  the  cutter's  discretion;  but  it  is 
always  a  very  slow  process. 

The  other  precious  stones,  such  as  rubies, 
sapphires,  emeralds,  &c.,  may  all  be  divided  into 
two  classes,  aluminous  and  siliceous  stones, — 
or  those  consisting  chiefly  of  alumina,  varied 
by  small  proportions  of  other  substances,  and 
those  made  of  silica,  that  is,  flint,  with  similar 
or  different  mixtures  of  other  matter;  and 
they  are  found,  like  the  diamond,  in  detached 
nodules,  in  alluvium  or  earthy  beds. 

*  See  "Oriental  Accounts  of  the  Precious  Minerals." 
Translated  by  Raja  Kalikishen,  with  Remarks  by  James 
Princep,  F.R.S.,  in  the  "Journal  of  Asiatic  Society  of 
Bengal."  Calcutta,  1832. 


256  GEMS. 

Out  of  these  two  classes  of  gems,  the  alu- 
minous stones  coinprise  perhaps  (next  to  the 
diamond)  those  on  which  men  set  the  highest 
price;  and  the  most  precious  of  these  are  the 
Oriental  sapphire,  ruby  and  topaz.  I  mention 
these  together,  because  they  really  are  varieties 
of  the  same  thing, — corundum, — consisting 
almost  entirely  of  alumina,  with  a  little  lime 
and  oxide  of  iron;  but  the  proportions  differ 
slightly  with  the  colour.  Sapphires  are  found 
amidst  gravel  near  trap  rocks  in  Bohemia, 
Saxony  and  France,  Scotland  and  the  East 
Indies ;  but  the  most  beautiful  come  from  the 
Capelan  Mountains  of  Pegu.  They  occur  in 
blunt-edged  pieces,  roundish  pebbles,  or  crystal- 
lized in  various  pyramidal  forms.  The  colours 
are  blue,  red,  gray,  white,  green  and  yellow. 
Next  to  the  diamond,  the  blue  sapphire  is  the 
hardest  substance  in  nature.  When  heated,  it 
becomes  snow-white,  and  exhibits  so  great  a 
degree  of  lustre  that  it  is  often  substituted  for 
diamonds.  The  sapphire  was  one  of  the  stones 
in  the  high-priest's  breastplate,  and  is  men- 
tioned in  Revelation  as  one  of  the  foundation- 
stones  of  the  holy  city.  It  is  frequently  spoken 
of  in  the  Scriptures,  not  only  as  a  precious  stone 
for  jewels,  but  as  the  most  splendid  article  for 


SAPPHIRE.  257 

thrones  and  pavements :  so  that  learned  men 
suppose  that  two  substances  were  intended  by 
the  Hebrews  under  the  ancient  and  general 
name  of  sapphire. 

The  other  substance  which  may  be  meant 
is  the  blue  stone  called  lapis  lazuli,  found  in 
veins  of  the  rocks  of  China,  Persia,  Bucharia 
and  Lake  Baikal.  This  was  highly  valued  in 
Egypt  for  toys  and  ornaments,  and  was  often 
used  in  mosaic- work  for  the  walls  and  floors 
of  palaces,  as  noticed  in  Exodus  xxiv.  10, 
where  it  is  said  that  Moses  and  the  seventy 
elders  "saw  the  God  of  Israel;  and  there  was 
under  his  feet  a  paved  work  of  a  sapphire 
stone,  and  as  it  were  the  body  of  heaven  in  his 
clearness,"  Now,  our  sapphire  is  never  found 
except  in  small  crystals,  while  lapis  lazuli,  or 
azure  stone,  occurs  in  large  slabs,  suited  for 
costly  pavement,  and  is,  moreover,  an  opaque 
sky-blue,  interspersed  with  gold  points, — which 
gives  a  peculiar  aptitude  to  its  comparison  with 
the  starry  heavens  by  Ezekiel,  (chap.  x.  1.) 
This  description  really  adds  much  to  the 
beauty  of  the  allusion;  or  rather,  a  know- 
ledge of  the  substance  referred  to  shows  the 
appropriateness  of  the  figure. 

Lapis  lazuli  consists  of  nearly  equal  parts 

R  22* 


258  GEMS. 

of  silica  and  alumina,  and  a  considerable  por- 
tion of  soda,  with  a  little  sulphur.  It  has 
been  used  to  form  a  brilliant  blue  paint  from 
very  early  times,  and  was  the  costly  ultra- 
marine of  the  middle  ages.  Ultramarine  is 
now  produced  artificially  so  cheaply  that  as 
much  can  be  purchased  for  twenty-five  cents 
as  formerly  cost  twenty  dollars. 

But  the  blue  crystal  sapphire  was  a  gem 
also  known  to  the  ancients,  and  was,  most 
likely,  that  used  for  the  high-priest's  breast- 
plate, as  it  is  more  suited  for  engraving  than 
the  softer  lapis  lazuli.  Sapphires  are  prefer- 
able to  rubies  for  jewelling  watches,  on  account 
of  their  uniform  hardness.  Some  are  varie- 
gated in  colour,  half  red  and  half  green,  or 
striped  with  yellow.  When  very  pale,  they  are 
termed  white  sapphires.  The  asterias,  or 
star-stone,  is  a  beautiful  variety  of  sapphire, 
exhibiting  a  rayed  opalescent  lustre. 

Rubies  are  considered  very  beautiful,  as 
well  as  valuable.  They  are  composed  of  the 
same  material  as  sapphires,  but  are  not  quite 
so  hard.  They  are  prized  for  their  deep-red 
colour.  "Polished  as  sapphires,"  "ruddy  as 
rubies,"  the  prophet  Jeremiah  describes  the 
Nazarites  in  their  prosperity.  (Lam.  iv.  7.) 


TOPAZ.  259 

The  carbuncle,  nearly  purple ;  spinel,  corn- 
poppy  scarlet;  balas,  pale  red,  inclining  to 
violet;  and  the  rubicele,  of  a  reddish  yellow, 
are  all  considered  varieties  of  the  ruby.  The 
ruby  in  the  English  crown,  about  the  size  of 
a  walnut,  was  brought  from  Spain  by  Edward 
the  Black  Prince.  One  hundred  and  eight 
are  mentioned  in  the  throne  of  the  Great 
Mogul,  weighing  from  one  hundred  to  two 
hundred  carats,  and  one  round  one  weighs  two 
and  a  half  ounces;  but  a  ruby  weighing  only 
six  carats,  or  twenty-four  grains,  is,  if  perfect, 
often  valued  at  one  thousand  guineas. 

The  topaz  has  a  small  admixture  of  fluoric 
acid  in  its  composition,  and  is  naturally  of  a 
brilliant  yellow,  but  can  be  changed  by  heat 
to  rose  red,  violet  blue,  or  white,  but  then  it 
loses  its  transparency.  It  is  so  abundant  as 
to  give  its  name  to  the  topaz  mountain  rock, 
of  which  the  mineral  forms  a  part.  Occasion- 
ally it  is  found  in  granite ;  and  nests  of  topaz 
have  been  discovered  in  clay-slate,  or  in  veins 
with  tin-stone;  but  the  best  occur  in  large 
crystals  of  oblique  prism-shape,  amidst  the 
alluvial  soil  of  granite  districts.  The  East 
Indies  yield  the  finest  topazes,  being  no  other 
than  the  yellow  sapphires  already  mentioned. 


260  GEMS. 

•  Next  in  value  are  those  from  Brazil  and 
Peru.  Inferior  topazes  are  common  in  Si- 
beria, Saxony,  Bohemia  and  Scotland.  In 
Scotland  a  yellow  or  brownish  quartz,  called 
cairngorm,  from  the  mountain  of  that  name, 
is  much  used  for  seals,  brooches,  rings,  &c. 
Crystals  of  topaz  refract  double. 

Emery  is  bluish-gray  corundum  mixed  with 
iron,  and  derives  its  name  from  Cape  Emeri, 
in  the  Isle  of  Naxos,  whence  it  was  first 
brought.  It  is  used  for  polishing  iron  and 
steel.  It  will  interest  you  to  look  at  some 
emery-powder  through  the  microscope. 

Several  other  gems  are  composed  chiefly  of 
alumina;  for  instance,  the  garnet  is  alumina, 
with  nearly  equal  proportions  of  silica  and 
oxide  of  iron,  crystallized  in  three  different 
forms,  pyramidal,  dodecahedral  and  prismatic, 
and  yielding  fourteen  varieties  of  garnet,  each  of 
which  is  distinguished  by  some  name  indicating 
its  colour,  locality,  or  origin.  The  precious 
or  noble  garnet  is  a  dark '  bluish-red.  The 
finest  come  from  Pegu;  but  many  are  found  in 
the  northern  countries  of  Europe, — generally 
in  small  crystal  grains,  though  occasionally  in 
masses.  It  melts  to  a  cinder  under  the  blow- 
pipe, and  is  not  very  valuable.  The  coarser 


VESUVIAN.  261 

kinds  are  used  for  beads,  or  even;  as  emery, 
for  polishing  metals  and  gems. 

Vesuvian  is  a  species  of  garnet  found  in 
abundance  among  the  unaltered  rocks  ej.ected 
from  the  volcano :  it  is  green  or  brown. 
Egeran,  reddish  brown ;  gehlenite,  green,  from 
the  Tyrol;  pyrope,  a  blood-red  variety;  pyr- 
eneite;  grayish  black,  from  the  Pyrenees; 
grossulare,  green;  melanite,  velvet  black; 
colophonite,  orange-red;  helrin,  wax  yellow; 
and  cinnamon-stone,  are  all  varieties  of  gar- 
net. Though  these  stones  are  of  such  different 
colours,  they  are  considered  varieties  only  of 
the  same  substance,  because  their  chemical 
composition  is  either  precisely  the  same,  or 
only  slightly  varied  by  very  small  admixtures 
in  different  proportions  of  iron  or  manganese, 
which  produce  the  different  colours. 

Cyanite,  or  kyanite,  is  another  aluminous 
gem,  with  a  large  proportion  of  silica  and  a 
little  iron  and  potash.  It  is  found  in  masses 
as  well  as  in  distinct  crystals  in  the  granite 
and  mica-slate  rocks  of  the  oldest  formation, 
in  most  countries  both  of  the  Old  and  New 
World.  Its  principal  colours  are  Berlin  blue, 
gray  and  green.  Some  specimens  are  quite 
1  transparent,  others  very  nearly  so.  In  India 


262  GEMS. 

it  is  cut  and  polished  as  an  inferior  sort  of 
sapphire. 

The  chrysoberyl  is  a  bright,  green  gem, 
usually  found  in  round  pieces  about  the  size 
and  colour  of  a  pea,  but  sometimes  in  crystals. 
It  consists  almost  entirely  of  alumina,  with  a 
small  proportion  of  silica,  and  a  very  little 
lime  and  oxide  of  iron.  It  refracts  double, 
and  becomes  electric  by  friction.  It  is  found 
in  Brazil,  Ceylon,  Siberia  and  Connecticut, 
and  can  be  so  cut  as  to  give  twenty-eight 
facets  to  the  summits  of  the  prism-shaped 
crystals. 

The  pretty  blue  turquoise  is  a  stone  hitherto 
found  only  in  Persia,  where  it  is  highly  prized 
for  ornament.  It  occurs  in  considerable 
masses,  and  in  various  shapes,  among  rocks  of 
iron.  There  is  a  variety,  called  bone  turquoise, 
found  occasionally  in  Languedoc,  and  once 
supposed  to  be  the  tooth  of  some  animal 
penetrated  with  copper-ore.  It  really  is  com- 
posed of  phosphate  of  lime  (the  same  material 
of  which  bones  are  made)  and  oxide  of  copper; 
and  probably  the  notion  of  its  being  teeth 
arose  from  its  shape  and  ivory-looking  texture. 

I  have  not  yet  mentioned  those  pretty 
stones  emerald  and  amethyst,  because  they, 


EMERALD.  263 

with  many  others,  are  siliceous  gems.  The 
emerald,  as  a  gem,  is  valued  next  to  the 
ruby,  and  consists  of  about  two-thirds  of 
silica,  some  alumina,  and  a  little  lime, 
glucina,  and  oxide  of  chrome,  with  a  very 
little  water.  The  most  beautiful  come  from 
Peru  and  Brazil,  where  the  natives  had  the 
wonderful  art  of  drilling  holes  through  them 
without  the  use  of  iron;  but  an  inferior 
species  was  known  to  the  ancients  long  be- 
fore America  was  discovered,  and  seems  to 
have  been  brought  from  Egypt  and  Bombay. 
Indeed,  there  is  an  island  of  emerald  in  the 
Ked  Sea.  Pliny  enumerates  twelve  varieties 
of  emerald;  but  some  of  these  were  so  very 
large,  that  he  must  have  included  a  green  spar, 
or  natural  glass,  such  as  that  of  which  the  cele- 
brated emerald  dish  at  Rome  was  made.  Theo- 
phrastus,  a  pupil  of  Aristotle,  in  his  treatise 
on  stones,  describes  one  four  cubits  long  and 
three  broad,  also  an  obelisk  forty  cubits  high 
and  from  two  to  four  broad,  which  consisted 
entirely  of  four  emeralds,  as  he  calls  them. 
The  true  emerald  gem,  however,  only  occurs 
in  s.uch  very  small  crystals  that  any  of  the 
size  of  a  walnut  are  considered  extraordinary 
specimens.  A  very  large  one,  weighing  eight 


264  GEMS. 

ounces  eighteen  pennyweights,  is  in  the  pos- 
session of  the  Duke  of  Devonshire.  It  came 
from  Granada,  and  is  two  inches  long  and 
two  and  a  quarter  inches  in  diameter.  Here 
is  a  drawing  of  it.  At  Loretto  there  is  shown 
a  shrine  studded  with  more  than  one  hundred 


DUKE  OF  DEVONSHIRE'S  EMERALD — HALF  SIZE. 

of  these  brilliant  stones.  When  heated,  eme- 
ralds change  into  blue,  but  recover  their 
natural  green  colour  on  cooling;  but  they  do 
not  stand  fire  well,  and  under  very  great  heat 
fuse  into  white  glass. 

Beryls  are  found  in  Siberia,  France,  the 
United  States  and  Brazil.  They  differ  very 
little  from  the  emerald  except  in  colour,  vary- 


AMETHYST.  265 

ing  from  bluish  green  to  honey  yellow,  sky- 
blue,  and  even  brown.  Ancient  naturalists 
attributed  all  sorts  of  wonderful  properties  to 
the  beryl, — such  as  keeping  people  from  fall- 
ing into  ambuscades,  exciting  courage  in  the 
fearful,  and  curing  diseases  of  the  eyes  and 
stomach.  "It  does  none  of  these  things 
now,"  concludes  the  quaint  historian,  "be- 
cause people  are  not  simple  enough  to  believe 
it  has  the  virtue  to  do  them."  The  beryl 
was  one  of  the  stones  in  the  high-priest's 
breastplate,  and  is  often  alluded  to  in  Scrip- 
ture as  in  common  use,  either  "in  gold  rings 
set  with  beryls,"  as  Solomon  describes,  or  in 
brooches  and  "rows  of  jewels."  It  is  some- 
times termed  aquamarine. 

The  amethyst  is  a  purple  or  violet  coloured 
gem  of  remarkable  brilliancy.  It  is  pure 
quartz,  and  found  in  both  the  East  and  West 
Indies,  Persia,  Brazil,  and  some  parts  of 
Europe.  It  is  much  used  for  seals  and 
brooches.  Some  of  the  ancient  cups  and 
vases  were  made  of  it,  as  it  was  an  opinion 
among  the  Persians  that  wine  drunk  from  such 
vessels  would  not  intoxicate:  hence  its  name, 
from  the  Greek  word  amethystos,  (not  intoxi- 
cating.) Some  writers  derive  its  name  from 

23 


266  GEMS. 

its  colour,  which  resembles  that  of  wine  min- 
gled with  water.  It  also  was  in  the  high- 
priest's  breastplate,  and  is  mentioned  as  one 
of  the  foundation-stones  of  the  holy  city. 

In  the  Bible  we  read  of  onyx,  chalcedony, 
sardius,  jasper,  sardonyx,  and  chrysoprasus, 
as  "  precious  stones"  in  ancient  times.  I 
think  I  told  you  before  that  agates  and  chal- 
cedonies are"  both  of  flinty  origin.  The 
pretty  pebbles  called  agates  derive  their 
name  from  the  river  Achates,  in  Sicily,  where 
they  were  first  noticed,  and  where  they  still 
abound.  They  have  a  considerable  mixture 
of  earth  in  them.  Agate  is  not  deemed  very 
valuable,  and  occurs  sometimes  in  such  very 
large  pieces  that  cups,  handles  of  knives  and 
forks,  plates,  and  chemists'  mortars  can  be 
made  of  it.  The  high  altar  of  Messina  is 
entirely  encrusted  with  agate.  It  often  ex- 
hibits curious  representations  of  men  and 
animals.  One  is  described  by  De  Boot,  in 
which  one  side  of  a  circle  appears  as  exact 
as  if  drawn  by  compasses,  in  the  centre  of 
which  there  is  a  bishop.  Turning  the  stone 
round,  other  men  and  women  appear.  Some 
agates  containing  the  numbers  4191,  1910, 
&c.  are  termed  arithmetical  agates.  Agates 


AGATE.  267 

were  so  early  used  by  engravers  that  they 
are  considered  a  sort  of  antique  gem,  and  are 
now  rather  more  regarded  for  their  history 
than  their  beauty.  Mr.  Layard  found  many 
agate,  onyx  and  cornelian  cylinders  among 
the  ruins  of  Assyria,  some  of  which  were 
covered  with  elaborate  engraving. 

Many  remarkable  specimens  of  agate  are 
preserved  in  cabinets;  and  amusing  mistakes 
have  occurred  in  interpreting  the  figures 
upon  them.  For  instance,  in  an  ancient 
church  of  France,  an  agate  had  been  pre- 
served from  time  immemorial,  considered  to 
represent  Adam  and  Eve,  with  the  tree, 
serpent,  &c. ;  but  on  further  examination  it 
proved  to  be  Jupiter  and  Minerva,  with  a 
modern  inscription  in  the  Eabbinical  cha- 
racter. An  onyx  agate,  set  in  a  ring  belong- 
ing to  the  Earl  of  Powis,  contains  the 
chrysalis  of  a  moth:  so  that  it  seems  as  if 
these  stones  were  rather  suddenly  crystal- 
lized from  a  fluid  state.  The  ancient  Italian 
artists  were  particularly  skilful  in  taking 
advantage  of  these  natural  marks,  and  worked 
onyx  and  agate  into  those  stones  called  cameo, 
or  camaieu,  a  name  derived  from  the  ancient 
Oriental  word,  camebuia,  given  to  those 


268  GEMS. 

onyxes  having  a  second  colour.  The  term  is 
now  applied  to  any  stone  on  which  there  ap- 
pears a  picture  in  the  natural  veinings,  or 
which  is  artificially  produced. 

Chalcedony  takes  its  name  from  the  city  of 
Chalcedon,  near  which  it  was  first  noticed 
and  still  abounds ;  but  it  is  also  found  in  Ice- 
land, the  Faroe  Isles,  the  Scotch  Hebrides, 
the  Pentland  Hills,  and  Derbyshire  and  Corn- 
wall, in  nodules,  veins  and  masses.  Chal- 
cedony consists  of  pure  silica,  with  a  very 
little  water.  In  colour,  there  are  various 
shades  of  white,  gray,  yellow,  brown,  green, 
and  blue.  It  is  semi-transparent,  and  harder 
than  flint :  moreover,  it  will  not  melt.  The 
green  variety  is  used  by  jewellers,  and  termed 
chrysoprasus.  The  heliotrope  is  blood-red, 
or  scarlet.  The  finest  specimens  come  from 
Bohemia  and  Siberia.  The  true  onyx  is 
really  a  chalcedony  composed  of  white,  black 
and  brown  layers,  so  as  to  exhibit  a  banded 
appearance  in  cutting  and  polishing. 

Curious  stones,  called  beekites,  are  found  on 
the  shores  of  Torbay,  England,  consisting  of 
chalcedony  deposited  on  a  nucleus  of  coral  or 
fragments  of  limestone.  They  vary  from  the 
size  of  beans  to  nodules  a  foot  in  diameter, 


CORNELIAN.  269 

and,  though  irregular,  are  more  or  less  round 
in  shape.  The  nucleus  is  often  loose  enough 
to  rattle,  or  is  in  powder.  The  beekites  hith- 
erto examined  occur  amidst  the  conglomerate 
of  ancient  beaches  formed  from  the  new  red 
sandstone,  among  the  fossils  of  which  corals 
predominate.  They  derive  their  name  from 
Dr.  Beeke,  who  first  reported  their  existence 
and  nature. 

Plasma  is  a  green  variety  often  found 
among  the  ruins  of  Rome.  The  sarde  and 
sardonyx  are  also  chalcedonies,  or,  perhaps, 
more  properly,  varieties  of  cornelian,  which 
has  a  small  portion  of  alumina  and  oxide  of 
iron  added  to  its  large  amount  of  silica. 

Carnelian,  or  cornelian,  is  so  named  from 
the  flesh  colour  of  many  specimens,  though 
it  is  often  variegated  from  pure  white,  with 
all  shades  of  yellow  and  red.  It  is  semi- 
transparent  and  very  brilliant, — softer  than 
chalcedony,  and  therefore  easily  fashioned 
into  beads,  brooches,  seals,  rings,  &c.  The 
finest  come  from  the  East  Indies,  where  they 
occur  as  gray  or  blackish  olive  nodules  in 
the  beds  of  torrents.  After  some  weeks'  ex- 
posure to  the  sun,  they  are  subjected  to  heat 
in  earthen  pots,  which  produces  the  brilliant 

23* 


270  GEMS. 

tints  desired  by  the  jeweller.  I  believo 
many  of  these  stones  have  their  beauties 
curiously  developed  by  soaking  in  oil,  and 
baking  or  boiling,  before  they  are  cut  by 
the  lapidary. 

Opal  is  another  very  pretty  and  delicate- 
looking  stone  of  various  aspects.  The  pre- 
cious opal  is  simply  silica  with  a  very  little 
water.  It  is  valued  for  its  beautiful  play  of 
many  colours.  It  is  found  in  small  veins 
amidst  the  clay  porphyry  of  Hungary  or  the 
trap  rocks  of  Ireland.  It  is  generally  trans- 
lucent ;  but  some  opals  become  quite  transparent 
when  immersed  in  water:  these  are  called 
hydrophanes,  or  changeable  opal.  They  must 
be  quickly  withdrawn,  however,  on  becoming 
transparent,  as  otherwise  the  pores  soon  fill 
with  earthy  particles  from  the  water,  and 
the  changeable  property  is  lost.  There  are 
six  other  kinds  of  opal,  produced  by  the  addi- 
tion of  oxide  of  iron  in  small  proportions, 
namely,  the  common,  or  milk-white  opal;  the 
fine  opal,  so  named  from  its  brilliant  red  hue, 
which  is  peculiar  to  Mexico.  Central  America, 
especially  Honduras,  yields  the  fire-opal  in 
large  quantities,  in  veins.  Mother-of-pearl 
opal,  or  cacholong,  from  the  river  Cach,  in 


OPALS.  271 

Bucharia,  much  resembles  mother-of-pearl  in 
colour,  though  not  in  texture.  The  semi-opal 
is  white,  gray  and  brown,  mingled  as  spotted, 
striped,  or  clouded :  this  has  a  little  alumina, 
carbon,  ammoniacal  water  and  oil  of  bitumen 
in  its  composition.  Silica  and  oxide  of  iron, 
in  nearly  equal  proportions,  with  a  very  little 
water,  produce  the  ferruginous  opal,  or  jasper 
ore,  of  scarlet  and  gray  colours.  Wood-opal 
is  found  in  branched  pieces  of  many  various 
shapes. 

Opals  change  their  colour  by  breaking, 
and  are  easily  imitated  in  glass.  The  ancients 
had  an  unaccountable  passion  for  them.  The 
Oriental  opal  was  esteemed  double  the  value 
of  a  sapphire  of  the  same  size.  The  senator 
Nonnius,  who  possessed  the  famous  opal  of 
Eome,  worth  twenty  thousand  sestertii,  pre- 
ferred banishment  to  selling  it  to  Antony. 

You  must  not  confound  the  jasper  mentioned 
in  Scripture  with  this  variety  of  opal;  for 
jasper  opal  is  only  found  in  Hungary,  and, 
consequently,  was  unknown  to  the  Scripture 
writers.  They  refer  to  a  sort  of  quartz,  found 
abundantly  in  the  loose  sands  of  Egypt,  and 
still  known  as  Egyptian  jasper,  of  red  and 
brown  colours  of  various  shades,  disposed  in 


272  GEMS. 

ring-shaped  marks.  There  is  also  striped 
jasper,  with  green,  gray  and  yellow  stripes, 
found  in  Saxony  and  among  the  Pentland 
Hills.  Occasionally,  on  breaking  a  jasper  peb- 
ble, the  colours  are  so  disposed  as  to  afford  very 
tolerable  portraits  of  famous  individuals.  The 
poet  Chaucer  and  the  Duke  of  Wellington, 
and  others,  have  been  thus  perceived. 

Porcelain  jasper  is  curious,  and  supposed 
by  some  naturalists  to  be  actually  clay-slate 
baked  or  burned  by  volcanic  heat;  and,  as  it 
is  found  where  igneous  veins  have  intruded 
through  beds  of  coal,  this  supposition  seems 
plausible.  Common  j  asper  and  agate  jasper  seem 
generally  to  form  part  of  agates.  All  the  jas- 
pers are  hard,  capable  of  bearing  a  fine  polish, 
and  are,  therefore,  much  used  for  ornament. 
The  Egyptian  room  at  the  British  Museum 
shows  how  much  it  was  used  for  these  pur- 
poses by  the  civilized  ancient  world. 

Alice  remarked  that  they  saw  some  curious 
stones — gray,  green,  brown  and  red,  called 

cats'-eyes — in  Mrs.  B 's  collection,  and 

inquired  what  they  were  composed  of.  Mr. 
Goodman  told  them  that  cats'-eye  stones  are 
brought  from  Ceylon,  and  are  chiefly  silica; 
but  alumina  and  lime  in  very  small  quantities 


TOURMALINE.  273 

are  disposed  in  the  fibrous  manner  that  sug- 
gests their  name.  They  are  used  by  jewellers, 
and  highly  prized  by  gem-fanciers.  When  the 
late  King  of  Candy's  jewels  were  sold  in  Lon- 
don, in  the  year  1820,  a  cats'-eye  two  inches 
in  diameter  was  sold  for  two  thousand  dol- 
lars,— which  seems  a  large  sum  for  such  a 
stone,  as  it  is  more  curious  than  beautiful. 

Magnesia  combined  with  silica  produces  some 
pretty  gems,  though  not  yet  commonly  used, 
such  as  the  green  ligure  of  the  Apennines ; 
the  yellow  chondrodite,  or  brucite,  of  America, 
and  the  purple,  brown,  red  or  green  stones 
called  tourmaline  by  the  mdSerns,  and  lyn- 
curium  by  the  ancients,  who  not  only  used  it 
as  a  gem,  but  were  aware  of  its  electric  pro- 
perties when  rubbed.  Tourmaline  seems  plen- 
tiful in  Ceylon,  and  is  chiefly  valued  now  for 
its  remarkable  property  of  absorbing  one  of 
the  coloured  rays  of  light  and  transmitting 
all  the  others,  so  that  it  is  much  used  for  ex- 
periments in  optical  science. 

"I  suppose,"  remarked  Edward,  "that  new 
gems  are  often  discovered,  with  all  the  mining 
that  is  going  on  in  the  present  day." 

Surely,  answered  Mr.  Goodman.  I  have 
not  pretended  to  describe  all.  Zircon  is  one 


274  G-EMS. 

of  these  gems,  sometimes  called  the  jargon  of 
diamonds.  They  are  of  various  colours.  Some 
are  named  jacinths;  and  the  brightest  purple 
ones  have  long  been  known  as  hyacinths. 
They  are  found,  in  the  sand  of  rivers,  or  veins 
of  platina,  in  Ceylon,  France  and  Bohemia, 
and  are  composed  chiefly  of  the  elementary 
oxide  called  zirconia,  with  about  one-fourth 
of  silica.  The  fluor-spar  of  Derbyshire,  and 
the  green  copper-ore  called  malachite,  are 
much  used  for  ornamental  purposes,  and  are 
very  pretty, — though  rather  too  soft  to  be 
ranked  as  gems.  Coral  and  pearls,  too,  though 
products  of  anftnal  origin,  add  much  to  the 
beauty  and  value  of  a  jeweller's  stock. 

You  may,  perhaps,  have  read  in  Eastern 
tales  of  the  bezoar  as  a  valuable  stone;  but 
that  is  merely  a  concretion  found  in  the  bodies 
of  many  animals,  consisting,  like  coral,  entirely 
of  phosphate  of  lime,  or  magnesia.  Its  name 
is  Persian,  and  signifies  an  antidote  to  poison, 
—for  which  imaginative  property  it  was  once 
highly  esteemed.  The  Oriental  bezoars  con- 
sist of  concentric  layers,  smooth,  soft  and 
finely  polished.  They  burn  and  melt  by  fire. 
Three  were  sent  by  the  King  of  Persia  as  a 
present  to  Napoleon,  which  seemed  to  be  com- 


BEZOABS.  275 

posed  mostly  of  woody  fibre  agglomerated  by 
the  animal  process  of  digestion. 

Referring  for  a  moment  to  the  twelve  pre- 
cious stones  in  the  Jewish  high-priest's  breast- 
plate; on  which  the  names  of  the  twelve  tribes 
were  engraved,  that  he  might  "bear  them  on 
his  heart"  when  he  went  into  the  holy  place 
to  confess  their  sins  and  make  intercession 
for  their,  pardon,  it  is  remarkable  that  eight 
out  of  those  stones,  the  sardius,  topaz,  diamond, 
beryl,  jasper,  sapphire,  emerald  and  carbuncle, 
are  mentioned  by  Ezekiel  (chap,  xxviii.  13) 
as  having  been  in  Eden;  as  well  as  the  onyx, 
which  is  the  first  precious  stone  named  in  the 
Bible.  (Gen.  ii.  12.)  In  addition  to  these,  the 
chalcedony,  chrysoprasus,  jacinth  and  ame- 
thyst are  represented  as  forming  the  founda- 
tions of  the  holy  city  in  John's  Revelation. 
The  mind  may  thus  be  carried  back  to  the  ear- 
liest times, — as  if  to  assure  us  that  men  from 
all  ages-,  as  well  as  from  all  nations,  should  be 
remembered  by  the  Saviour,  our  great  High- 
Priest,  and  that  all  who  trust  in  him  shall  be 
furnished  with  a  title  for  the  holiness  and 
happiness  of  eternal  life. 


276  FOSSILS. 


CHAPTER  XL 

FOSSILS. 

THE  soil  of  the  county  in  which  Mr.  Good- 
man's house  was  situated  abounded  with 
fossils;  and  one  of  the  most  popular  writers  on 
them  was  sometimes  his  guest.  The  attention 
of  his  family  was,  therefore,  early  turned  to 
their  consideration,  and  curiosity  was  excited 
long  before  the  children  were  old  enough  to 
take  any  intelligent  interest  in  their  construc- 
tion or  their  origin.  As  they  grew  up  and 
travelled  through  their  own  and  into  other 
countries,  similar  remains  attracted  their  at- 
tention,— particularly  in  visiting  Trenton  Falls 
and  Sharon  Springs,  in  New  York,  the  Bed- 
ford and  Sulphur  Springs  of  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia,  and  the  falls  of  the  Ohio,  at  Louis- 
ville,— all  famous  localities  for  the  collection  of 
these  remains,  as  well  as  places  of  resort  for 
health  and  recreation  in  the  summer  season. 
When,  some  years  after  the  date  when  our 


FOSSILS.  277 

story  begins,  Edward  made  a  short  voyage  to 
England  with  his  uncle,  during  one  of  his 
college  vacations,  he  had  occasion  to  compare 
these  with  an  equally  celebrated  locality  for 
fossils, — a  certain  hill  near  Dudley,  in  Stafford- 
shire, called  the  Wren's  Nest.  This  hill, 
though  nearly  in  the  centre  of  England,  and 
far  distant  from  the  sea,  is  almost  entirely 
composed  of  small  marine  corals  and  zoophytes, 
grouped  together  in  the  utmost  confusion, 
many  of  them  exhibiting  remarkable  elegance 
of  form  when  a  little  cleared  by  dissolving 
some  of  the  lime-surface  with  acid. 

In  completing  the  "  friendship-grotto,"  some 
beautiful  specimens  from  this  Wren's  Nest,  as 
well  as  from  the  coral  crags  of  Suffolk,  the 
encrinites  of  Llangollen,  and  fossils  from 
places  much  nearer  home,  which  had  been 
forwarded  by  different  friends,  were  so  used 
that  a  corner  of  the  grotto  was  entirely  filled 
with  the  ancient  memorials  of  by-gone  times. 
One  day,  when  Edward  was  watching  a  marble- 
cutter  at  work,  a  very  large  oyster,  with  both 
shells  complete,  had  been  disclosed  in  the  very 
middle  of  a  block  of  compact  white  marble. 
The  owner  presented  it  to  him;  and  this  oc- 
cupied a  conspicuous  place  in  the  collection, 

24 


278  FOSSILS. 

together  with  an  assortment  of  fossil  woods 
Mr.  Goodman  had  from  Antigua,  in  the  West 
Indies. 

Having  gone  over  the  other  parts  of  the 
grotto  in  their  mineralogical  inquiries,  the 
fossil-corner  now  came  under  review,  and  the 
young  people  gladly  hailed  a  leisure  hour, 
when  their  father  offered  to  tell  them  what 
he  knew  upon  the  subject.  They  were  look- 
ing attentively  at  the  specimens  from  the 
Wren's  Nest  when  Mr.  Goodman  joined  them, 
and  were  talking  eagerly  of  the  marvel  that 
sea-shells  should  be  found  firmly  imbedded  in 
rocks  so  far  inland.  They  at  once  propounded 
a  host  of  questions  to  him. 

He  told  them  that  our  earth  had  under- 
gone so  many  revolutions,  even  since  man  has 
inhabited  it  and  recorded  its  changes,  that 
we  need  not  be  surprised  to  find  the  remains 
of  sea-shells  in  places  now  far  inland.  In- 
deed, it  is  believed  that  scarcely  any  part  of 
the  known  world  is  entirely  destitute  of  fossit 
remains. 

Edward  here  remarked  that  he  supposed 
the  word  "fossil"  was  derived  from  the  word 
fossus,  dug  out,  and  •  that,  therefore,  every 
stone  in  the  ground  was  really  a  fossil. 


FOSSILS.  279 

Mr.  Goodman  replied  that  it  might  be 
called  so;  but  the  term  fossil  is,  for  con- 
venience, now  limited  to  those  organic  remains 
which,  plentifully  distributed  through  the  sub- 
stance of  the  earth's  crust,  show  how  plants 
and  animals  abounded  in  former  times, — from 
the  reptile,  which  wallowed  in  mud  and  slime, 
to  the  delicate  dragon-fly  which  sported  over 
the  brook. 

Geologists  have  been  for  a  long  time  occupying 
themselves  with  making  out  the  order  of  crea- 
tion from  these  remains, — which  are  of  a  low 
order  in  the  earliest  or  lowest  rocks,  and  rise 
in  rank-  as  they  occupy  later  or  higher  strata : 
the  first  creatures,  inhabiting  the  lowest  and 
oldest  rocks,  being  worms  and  trilobites  and 
sea-weeds;  then  shellfish,  of  various  kinds; 
then  fish  and  land-plants ;  afterwards  lizards 
and  other  reptiles;  then  birds;  and,  finally, 
great  beasts,  ending  with  their  lord  and  mas- 
ter, man.  But  with  the  details  of  this  fine 
order  of  the  fossil  world,  which,  in  fact,  have 
not  even  yet  been  all  made  out  so  as  to  settle 
disputed  points,  I  will  not  perplex  you,  but 
will  simply  describe  some  of  the  more  re- 
markable fossils  of  plants,  shells  and  ani- 
mals. 


280  FOSSILS. 

These  remains,  however,  are  not  found  in 
all  rocks;  for  hitherto  granite,  trap,  and 
other  so-called  igneous  rocks,  whether  lying 
deep  under  ground  or  elevated  to  the  tops 
of  high  mountains,  have  yielded  no  fossils. 
Limestone,  slate  and  conglomerate  contain 
many  fossils ;  sandstone  and  clay  abound  with 
all  sorts ;  coal-beds  consist  almost  entirely  of 
fossil  vegetation ;  while  chalk  seems  to  be  com- 
posed wholly  of  animal  remains. 

The  study  of  these  remains  gives  us  the 
science  of  palaeontology,  so  called  from  three 
Greek  words,  palaia,  onta,  logos, — meaning 
ancient,  things,  talk.  Although  the  ancients 
noticed  fossils,  and  the  science  has  such  an 
ancient  name,  it  is  a  very  modern  part  of 
human  knowledge,  having  almost  been  begun 
by  the  great  French  savant,  Baron  Cuvier. 

Alexander  the  Great  sent  the  horns  of  a 
Scythian  animal  to  Delphi,  as  a  great  curiosity; 
and  tusks  and  bones  of  remarkable  monsters 
were  often  hung  in  the  temples  of  Rome ;  while 
Theophrastus,  the  pupil  of  Aristotle,  collected 
petrifactions  on  the  Getulian  Mountains  of 
Africa,  which  he  considered  the  relics  of 
Deucalion's  Flood.  Strabo,  the  ancient  geo- 
grapher, accounts  for  fossil  sea-shells  being 


FOSSILS.  281 

found  inland  by  supposing  that  the  original 
ocean-bed  had  been  elevated  by  earthquakes  or 
volcanoes.  Learned  Arabs  discussed  the  origin 
of  fossils  in  the  tenth  century;  but  it  excited 
no  European  interest  till  the  Italians,  in  the 
sixteenth  century,  began  to  investigate  the 
subject;  and  for  three  hundred  years  various 
theories  were  started.  Some  maintained 
that  these  remains  were  mere  "  sports  of 
nature;"*  others,  that  they  were  the  " pro- 
duct of  fatty  matter  fermented  by  heat," 
"  earthy  concretions/'  the  "  results  of  tumult- 
uous movements  of  terrestrial  exhalations;" 
or  "  products  of  the  heavenly  bodies."  A  few 
maintained,  from  the  beginning  of  the  in- 
quiry, that  they  had  all  once  belonged  to 
living  beings;  but  the  kind  of  living  beings 
was  quite  mistaken.  A  Swiss  professor  of 
anatomy  pronounced  the  bones  of  an  elephant 
to  be  those  of  a  giant  nineteen  feet  high; 
wrhile  in  England  similar  fossils  were  actu- 
ally once  regarded  as  "  the  bones  of  the  fallen 
angels."  In  Warwick  Castle,  a  bone  of  a 


*  A  book  has  even  been  lately  published  in  New  York, 
in  which  the  author — strange  to  say,  an  educated  man — 
maintains  this  absurd  old  notion. 
24* 


282  FOSSILS. 

fossil  mammoth  is  shown  as  one  of  the  ribs 
of  the  Dun  Cow  of  Guy,  Earl  of  Warwick ! 

Many  fossils  are  very  different  from  any 
species  now  existing,  and  very  strange  names 
and  descriptions  were  applied  to  them.  Some 
agates,  mica-slate,  and  fibrous  tremolite,  were 
mistaken  for  petrified  oak,  maple,  or  hem- 
lock ;  fossil  stems  and  trunks  of  plants  among 
coal  were  called  rattlesnakes;  certain  shells 
were  termed  butternuts  and  walnuts.  The 
people  of  Middle  Pennsylvania  call  the  spirifers 
and  encrinites  of  the  Devonian  rocks  of  their 
neighbourhood  beeves'  hearts,  butterflies,  and 
Indian  screws.  Some  varieties  of  polyparia 
are  regarded  as  the  horns  of  deer  or  petri- 
fied pork.  Even  petrified  squaws,  pappooses, 
and  buffaloes  were  announced  as  existing  in 
the  Far  West  of  America.  The  existence, 
however,  on  the  earth's  surface  of  remains  of 
extinct  animals  in  their  natural  state,  is  not  a 
fiction.  In  the  year  1801,  the  entire  carcass 
of  an  enormous  animal  was  discovered  pro- 
jecting from  an  ice-bank  near  the  mouth  of 
the  river  Lena,  in  Siberia.  Two  years  after- 
wards the  ice  melted,  so  that  the  whole  fell 
on  to  a  sand-bank,  where  a  drawing  was  made 
of  it.  The  flesh  was  so  firm  and  fresh  that 


FOSSILS.  283 

s  feasted  on  it  for  two  or  three  years ;  the 
skin  was  so  thick  and  heavy  as  to  require  the 
united  strength  of  ten  men  to  remove  it,  and 
more  than  thirty  pounds'  weight  of  its  hair  and 
bristles  were  gathered  up,  of  so  thick  and 
warm  a  nature  as  indicated  its  preparation 
for  a  cold  climate.  The  tusks  yielded  good 
ivory.  Indeed,  notwithstanding  this  northern 
race  of  elephants  has  long  been  extinct,  there 
is  such  an  abundant  supply  of  fossil  elephants' 
tusks  in  Siberia,  that  though  these  "  ivory 
quarries,"  as  they  have  been  appropriately 
termed,  have  been  worked  for  more  than  a 
hundred  years,  great  quantities  are  still  an- 
nually imported  into  Liverpool,  where  they 
find  a  ready  sale  to  comb-makers  and  other 
ivory-workers. 

Alice  asked  if  this  could  be  accounted  for, 
since  the  ivory  Mr.  Layard  found  at  Nineveh 
seemed  almost  destroyed  by  time. 

Mr.  Goodman  said,  perhaps  the  heat  of  the 
climate  of  Nineveh  promoted  its  decay.  This 
Siberian  fossil  ivory  comes  from  a  region 
where  cold  arrests  the  decay  of  animal  sub- 
stances. But  there  may  have  been  also  a 
great  difference  in  the  length  of  time  during 


284  FOSSILS. 

which  these  several  quantities  of  ivory  have 
been  where  they  are  found. 

Fossils  are  so  plentiful  everywhere  that  it 
is  stated  that  two-thirds  of  the  present  dry 
land  are  composed  of  fossiliferous  rocks,  often 
several  thousand  feet  thick.  The  number  of 
their  various  contents  is  continually  augment- 
ing as  further  investigation  takes  place. 

Six  hundred  fossil  plants  have  already  been 
described,  and  the  animal  and  zoophyte  re- 
mains are  still  more  numerous, — nearly  ten 
thousand;  so  that  "the  testimony  of  the 
rocks"  not  only  reveals  chemical  mixtures, 
and  the  action  of  fire,  water  and  pressure, 
as  you  have  heard  in  former  conversations, 
but  actually  shows  us  the  forms  and  con- 
ditions of  extinct  vegetable  and  animal  life, 
and  explains  how  their  death  and  decay  are 
made  subservient  to  the  well-being  of  future 
generations.  Very  few  of  the  species  found 
fossil  still  survive. 

Some  of  the  most  perfect  fossil-plants,  and 
of  the  largest  size,  are  chiefly  found  among 
the  coal-measures ;  but  the  old  and  new  red 
sandstones,  limestone,  and  clay  are  not  desti- 
tute of  them.  The  pines,  or  cone-bearing 
trees,  are  found  as  fossils  in  the  rocks  of  all 


FOSSILS. 


285 


ages,  back  as  far  as  the  coal-era, — sometimes, 
as  at  Killingworth  Colliery,  Newcastle,  rising 
through  no  less  than  seven  different  strata. 


Shale  (mud  or  clay). 
Micaceous  sandstone. 
White  sandstone. 

Alternating  shells  and 
sandstones. 

Compact  sandstone. 
Blue  shale.      ' 

Argillo-bituminous  shale. 


The  high  main  coal  of  the 
district. 


Fossil  tree  at  Killingworth  Colliery,  Newcastle,  England.    (See  De  La 
Beche,  p.  503.) 

In  the  lowest  rocks  most  of  the  plants  are 
sea-weeds.  It  might  be  thought  that  sea- 
weeds would  have  speedily  decayed,  most 
of  them  being  soft  and  weak.  Of  course, 
many  of  them  must  have  perished  without 
leaving  any  traces;  but  the  different  con- 
ditions in  which  fossils  are  can  be  accounted 
for.  While  the  hard  bones  themselves  are 
sometimes  preserved,  the  more  porous  sub- 


286  FOSSILS. 

stances  have  become  filled  with  stony  matter, 
or  petrified;  and  sometimes  the  plant  or  ani- 
mal itself  gradually  decayed,  leaving  only  the 
impression  of  its  form,  or  its  place  was  sup- 
plied by  stony  particles  taking  its  exact 
shape.  Sea-weeds  and  mosses,  from  their 
delicate  nature,  seldom  leave  more  than  their 
impress  on  the  rock, — so  exact,  however,  as 
to  enable  the  botanist  to  detect  their  species 
and  trace  their  vessels.  Some  club-mosses, 
now  utterly  extinct,  were  from  twenty  to 
forty-five  feet  long,  rivalling  the  pines  of  the 
present  day.  Eeeds  and  rushes  were  pro- 
portionately large,  while  ferns  were  grown 
into  large  trees.  Many  plants  resembling 
the  cactus  tribe,  with  large  trunks,  curi- 
ously fluted  and  scarred,  called,  from  these 
circumstances,  sigillaria  and  stigmaria,  are 
met  with,  as  well  as  the  whorled  leaves  of 
other  tribes,  to  which  the  name  of  astero- 
phyllites  is  given. 

When  coal  is  laid  for  a  time  in  acid, 
until  all  the  soft  parts  are  dissolved,  the 
curious  structure  of  the  original  plants  out 
of  which  it  was  made  can  be  seen  in  the 
microscope. 

The  actual  cones  or  seeds  of  these  plants 


FOSSILS.  287 

are  found  occasionally  in  what  are  called  the 
dirt-beds,  or  thin  layers  of  vegetable  mould, 
apparently  composed  of  the  decayed  foliage 
of  the  trunks,  which  occur  at  intervals  even 
amidst  so  hard  a  substance  as  the  Portland 
stone.  In  the  London  blue  clay  upwards  of 
seven  hundred  species  of  seeds  and  fruits  have 
been  detected, — most  of  which  belong  to  a 
much  hotter  climate  than  that  of  the  present 
age,  fruits  of  the  palm,  gourd  and  melon 
tribes  being  distinctly  visible,  while  laurels  and 
custard-apple-trees,  with  others  of  the  plane, 
buckthorn  and  hazel  families,  nearly  resem- 
bling the  present  forests  of  the  United  States, 
flourished  even  in  the  latitude  of  London, 
where  similar  plants  are  now  protected  and 
cherislied  in  the  Crystal  Palace  as  tender 
exotics. 

The  earliest  animal  fossils  comprise  many 
zoophytes  and  coral-workers.  Some  of  these 
were  small  enough  to  construct  those  delicate 
little  specimens  which  need  the  microscope  to 
reveal  their  perfections.  The  encrinites,  or 
stone  lilies,  when  alive,  must  have  waved  like 
tulips,  on  long  stalks  of  stony  rings, — some 
numbering  twenty-six  thousand  rings  to  a 
single  individual.  In  their  fossil  state  they 


288  FOSSILS. 

compose  masses  a  hundred  feet  thick,  and  are 
clearly  visible  in  many  marbles,  and  in  blue 
limestone  rocks.  The  single  wheel-like  bones 
of  the  stalk  abound  in  the  limestones  of  the 
coal-measures,  especially  in  the  great  limestone 
of  the  lower  coal-measures  of  Western  Penn- 
sylvania and  Eastern  Ohio.  In  the  north  of 
England,  people  call  them  St.  Cuthbert's 
beads.  Shells,  both  fresh-water  and  marine, 
are  plentiful  in  rocks,  not  only  far  inland,  but 
on  the  tops  of  high  mountains.  Some  of  them 
are  so  minute  that  forty-one  thousand  millions 
are  calculated  to  'be  contained  in  a  cubic  inch ; 
while  others  are  found  whose  single  diameters 
measure  two  or  three  feet.*  The  bivalve 
shells  are  as  accurately  fitted  together  as  those 
of  the  present  day. 

The  ammonites — so  called  from  their  curled- 
tip  appearance,  resembling  the  coiled  horn  on 
the  ancient  statues  of  Jupiter  Ammon — are 
very  various  in  appearance  and  colour,  but 
all  contain  a  number  of  separate  chambers, 
through  which  an  air-tube  passed  to  enable 

*  Professor  Ehrenberg's  estimate,  from  microscopic 
investigation.  From  stones  in  Tuscany,  Soldain  obtained 
chambered  shells,  like  that  of  the  nautilus,  so  small  that 
one  thousand  of  them  weighed  but  a  single  grain. 


FOSSILS.  289 

the  creature  which  lived  in  the  mouth  of  the 
shell  to  rise  or  sink  at  pleasure.  Mathema- 
tical architects  have  pointed  out  the  exquisite 
contrivance  by  which  the  shapes  of  these 
divisions  have  been  diversified,  so  as  to  pro- 
duce the  great  amount  of  strength  requisite  to 
prevent  the  sides  of  the  shell  from  being- 
crushed  by  the  pressure  of  the  water  when  the 
animal  desired  to  be  below  the  surface ;  and 
one  consequence  of  this  arrangement  is  to 
cover  the  outside  of  the  shell  with  the  most 
beautiful  waved  lines. 

The  minute  nummulite  shell  of  the  foramini- 
fera  of  which  the  Pyrenees  and  some  of  the 
rocks  in  the  Crimea  and  Egypt  are  composed, 
are  similarly  chambered.  In  the  coarse  lime- 
stone near  Grignon,  in  France,  no  less  than 
four  hundred  varieties  of  marine,  land  and 
fresh-water  shells  have  been  detected,  all 
mingled  together ;  while  the  stone  called  Paris 
miliolite  is  entirely  composed  of  millions  of  tiny 
shells  not  larger  than  grains  of  fine  sand,  yet 
exhibiting  various  shapes;*  while  the  larger 
kinds,  if  differing  from  our  present  shells, 
rival  them  in  beauty,  variety  and  perfection. 

*See  Lyell's  Manual,  p.  194. 
T  25 


290  FOSSILS. 

You  may  see  that  the  shells  in  this  group  of 
fossils  from  Dudley  are  innumerable;  and 
in  this  large  slab  of  limestone  from  Nip- 
penose  Valley,  near  the  Susquehanna  River, 
the  whole  surface  is  covered  with  a  colony  of 
these  nut-shaped  shells,  all  lying  as  close  as 
possible  together,  just  as  they  lived  and  died 
in  their  native  bed! 

There  are  also  many  fossil  crustaceous  ani- 
mals, such  as  the  sepia,  the  remains  of  whose 
ink-bag  have  been  found  perfect  enough  to 
supply  material  with  which  to  draw  his  own 
portrait ;  the  trilobite,  likewise,  whose  beautiful 
and  complicated  projecting  eyes  contained  four 
hundred  spherical  lenses,  placed  on  one  side 
only. 

The  icthyosaurus,  megalosaurus  and  plesio- 
saurus,  remains  of  which  are  preserved  in  some 
museums,  were  enormous  reptiles  of  the  lizard 
tribe,  the  former  thirty  feet  long,  the  latter 
twelve  or  fourteen  feet;  while  the  megalo- 
saurus, or  great  lizard,  sometimes  measured 
forty  or  fifty  feet.  The  pterodactyle,  a  lizard 
with  bat-like  wings,  was  also  gigantic. 
Their  teeth  have  been  plentifully  preserved, 
and  indicate  a  capacity  for  tearing  their  prey : 
indeed,  half-digested  bones  of  small  animals 


FOSSILS.  291 

are  often .  perceived  within  the  cavity  of  the 
skeleton.  The  plesiosaurus  himself  seems, 
from  these  remains,  to  have  been  often  the 
victim  of  his  larger  relatives. 

These  are  from  sandstone.  Remains  of  im- 
mense animals  of  the  frog  kind  occur  also  in 
these  rocks.  In  the  grounds  of  the  Crystal 
Palace  at  London,  Professor  Owen  has  en- 
deavoured to  clothe  all  these  ancient  crea- 
tures in  the  forms  it  is  supposed  they  wore 
during  life.  The  form  of  an  animal  can  be 
surmised  with  some  accuracy  from  a  part  of 
its  bony  structure.  Thus,  it  is  found  that  the 
teeth  are  exactly  suited  for  the  particular  sort 
of  food  the  animal  lived  on,  and  that  these 
teeth  also  correspond  with  the  form  of  the 
creature,  as  feeding  on  animal  or  vegetable 
diet :  so  that  some  general  idea  may  be  ob- 
tained of  its  appearance.  When  the  whole 
skeleton  is  preserved,  there  will  be  little 
difficulty. 

The  remains  of  a  few  fossil  snakes  have 
been  discovered  in  some  quite  modern  rocks, 
such  as  the  London  blue  clay;  and  these  are 
chiefly  of  the  python  and  boa  kind.  They 
must  have  been  about  twelve  or  fifteen  feet 
long.  In  the  limestone  rocks  of  Tonna,  near 


292  FOSSILS. 

Gotta,  in  Saxony,  fifteen  feet  deep,  four 
snakes'  eggs  were  found  in  1850,  surrounded 
with  petrified  leaves  and  quite  enclosed  in 
the  stone.  Many  recent  shells  were  there 
also;  and  the  whole  mass  is  comparatively 
modern. 

In  the  celebrated  lithographic  stone  of 
Solenhofen,  in  Bavaria,  no  less  than  two  hun- 
dred and  thirty-seven  species  of  fossil  animals 
occur,  comprising  pterodactyles,  saurians,  tor- 
toises, fish,  Crustacea,  and  twenty-six  insects. 
Footprints  of  wading-birds  are  also  seen  in 
sandstone ;  and  lately  the  fossil  bones  and  eggs 
of  a  gigantic  bird — the  dinornis — have  been 
found  in  New  Zealand,  the  skeletons  of  which 
stand  nine  feet  high. 

Fossil  quadrupeds,  or  rather  mammal  ani- 
mals, are  seldom  found  with  the  reptiles,  but 
become  abundant  in  the  formations  near  the 
surface  of  the  ground;  and,  while  they  occur 
in  all  sorts  and  sizes,  several  are  gigantic 
enough  to  rival  the  huge  reptiles  just  de- 
scribed. The  great  mastodon  of  America  is 
the  largest  whose  fossil  skeleton  has  yet  been 
found  complete:  the  lower  jaw  alone  of  one 
specimen  weighed  sixty-three  pounds,  and 
was  two  feet  ten  inches  long.  The  mastodon 


FOSSILS.  293 

had  two  ivory  tusks,  and  seems  to  have  been 
of  the  elephant  tribe.  The  dinotherium 
was  an  amphibious  monster,  something  be- 
tween a  whale  and  an  elephant,  standing  on 
great  columnar  legs,  with  a  body  supposed 
to  have  been  even  forty-five  feet  long,  and 
two  tusks  curved  downward  from  the  lower 
jaw,  by  which  perhaps  he  anchored  himself  to 
the  banks  of  the  rivers  or  marshes  in  which 
he  lived,  while  he  munched  the  roots  of  the 
trees  and  the  coarse  reeds  which  grew  upon 
the  shore.  The  megatherium  and  mega- 
lonyx  were  animals  of  the  sloth  kind,  with 
broad,  flat,  five-toed  feet,  and  huge  claws 
fitted  for  digging  the  roots  for  which  their 
teeth  seem  best  fitted.  Mammoth  bones 
abound  all  around  the  globe,  in  a  broad  belt 
extending  from  the  fortieth  to  the  seventeenth 
degree  of  north  latitude. 

In  India  huge  fossil  animals  are  found,  of 
shapes  so  strange  that  there  seems  some  ex- 
cuse for  the  fables  of  animal  feats  in  the 
Hindoo  mythology.  Many  remains  of  tor- 
toises especially  have  been  discovered,  whose 
shells  are  similar  to  those  of  the  present  day, 
except  in  size, — the  carapace,  or  back-plate, 
alone  measuring  twenty  feet. 

25* 


294  FOSSILS. 

Many  other  fossil  mammals  have  been 
found,  of  the  pig,  camel,  giraffe,  horse,  dog 
and  opossum  kind.  In  the  Paris  chalk-basin 
alone,  twenty  different  kinds  have  been  de- 
tected, many  of  which  exactly  correspond 
with  fossils  in  the  Himalaya  Mountains  of 
India.  Judging  from  fossil  remains,  it  might 
be  difficult  to  find  an  age  when  creatures  did 
not  prey  on  each  other. 

Alice  interrupted  Mr.  Goodman,  and  in- 
quired if  there  are  any  fossil  fishes. 

Nearly  nine  hundred  varieties,  said  Mr. 
Goodman,  have  already  been  described.  Some 
are  like  those  we  know  in  the  present  day; 
others,  differing  in  size  and  shape,  occur  in 
chalk,  limestone,  clay  and  coal.  They  are 
distinguished  from  each  other  by  palaeontolo- 
gists chiefly  by  the  kind  of  scales  or  skin  they 
wore.  Some — called  placoidians,  from  the 
Greek  word  plax,  a  shield — are  covered  with 
bony  plates,  like  the  sharks  and  rays  of  the 
present  time.  The  ganoidians — so  named 
from  the  Greek  word  ganos,  splendour — are 
clothed  with  brilliant  scales,  composed  of 
bone  without  and  enamel  within,  of  various 
elegant  shapes,  arranged  with  perfect  regu- 
larity, and  are  much  more  numerous  as  fos- 


FOSSILS.  295 

sils  .than  the  living  species,  there  being  now, 
so  far  as  we  know,  no  other  existing  repre- 
sentative of  them  than  the  sturgeon;  and  the 
bony  pike  of  North  America. 

Some  of  these  fossil  fish  had  strange- 
shaped  heads:   one,  the  cephalaspis, 
was  finished  off  in  sharp  edges,  like 
the  horns  of  a  crescent, — probably  de- 
signed as  weapons.     The  coccosteus 
had  berry-like  tubercles  all  over  its 
plates;    and   seven    species   of  pter- 
ichthys    had    wing-like    appendages    B 
which  might  have  served  either  for    \ 
paddles  or  for  defence.    Some  of  these    * 
ganoids  were  so  nearly  allied  to  rep-    \ 
tiles  that  they  are  termed  sauroids,    \ 
or  lizard  fish.     The  most  remarkable   \ 
is  the    megalichthys,  or  great    fish,    \ 
whose  remains  were  first  found  near    ' 
Edinburgh :  it  must  have  been  a  huge 
creature,  for  some  of  its  scales  are 
live  inches  in  diameter,  and  one  tooth 
alone  measures  five  inches. 

The  largest  fossil  fishes  occur  in 
the  coal-measures,  where  the  teeth 
of  the  rhizodus  are  four  times  the 
size  of  those  of  the  largest  living  crocodile; 


296  FOSSILS. 

but  the  sting  of  the  pleuracanthus,  a  placoid 
fish,  is  one  of  the  most  singular  weapons  of 
the  tribe.  It  is  about  fourteen  inches  long, 
sharp  and  polished  as  a  stiletto,  round  and 
dense,  so  as  to  be  of  great  strength.  On  two 
sides  there  were  a  thickly-set  row  of  barbs, 
hooked  downwards :  so  that  it  must  have  been 
an  instrument  not  only  of  destruction,  but  of 
torture.  Some  of  these  fossil  fishes,  there- 
fore, and  reptiles,  must  have  been  formidable 
enemies  to  one  another. 

At  Aix  the  chalk  abounds  with  fishes 
thickly  clustered  together.  It  is  estimated 
that  the  fossil-beds  in  Great  Britain  must 
be  some  miles  thick.  In  Pennsylvania  and 
Virginia  the  fossil  rocks  of  the  oldest  date 
alone,  the  palceozoic,  measure  seven  miles 
through.  The  rest  may  measure  three  miles 
more.  In  the  Hastings  sand,  and  Purbeck 
limestone,  in  Europe,  there  are  strata  one  thou- 
sand feet  thick,  filled  with  the  minute  cases 
of  the  cypris.  The  coral  crag  of  Berkshire 
consists  of  petrified  coral,  generally  retaining 
the  position  in  which  they  grew  at  the  bottom 
of  the  ocean.  In  this  a  great  variety  of  beau- 
tiful corals  can  be  seen  by  the  microscope.* 

*  See  Lyell's  Manual,  p.  262. 


FOSSILS.  297 

The  coal-beds  show  how  vast  has  been  the 
accumulation  of  vegetable  remains. 

Alice  asked  how  petrifaction  is  produced, 
and  whether  it  takes  a  long  time. 

Mr.  Goodman  said,  It  goes  on  to  some  extent 
in  the  present  day,  as  may  be  seen  in  Matlock, 
or  Knaresborough,  or  Clermont,  as  I  before 
described,  or  at  Sharon  Springs,  or  any  other 
place  where  objects  are  continually  exposed 
to  streams  of  water  containing  a  solution  of 
stony  or  metallic  matter,  which  gradually 
encrusts  them.  Clay  containing  sulphate  of 
iron  will  in  a  few  years,  or  even  in  a  few 
months,  produce  a  very  perceptible  change  in 
a  bone  buried  in  it.  Some  springs  hold  iron 
in  solution;  and  vegetable  matter  is  in  time 
changed  into  oxide  of  iron,  as  is  often  seen 
where  bog-iron-ore  is  yearly  deposited.  Heat 
may  promote  a  more  rapid  petrifaction;  as 
Mr.  Goppert  placed  fern-leaves  carefully  in 
clay,  and  then  exposed  for  some  time  to  a 
red  heat, — when  the  leaves  were  made  to  re- 
semble the  petrified  plants  occuring  in  rocks. 

Many  bones  and  shells,  however,  remain  un- 
changed in  limestone,  chalk,  clay  and  sand, 
and  may  owe  their  petrifaction  to  seclusion 
from  the  action  of  the  atmosphere,  as  is  the 

Bancroft  Library 


298  FOSSILS. 

case  with  those  skeletons  carefully  enclosed  in 
stone  coffins  found  entire  beneath  the  ruins  of 
ancient  abbeys  and  priories:  they,  however, 
speedily  crumble  into  dust  when  once  exposed 
to  the  air.  Remains  once  covered  by  the 
eruption  of  volcanoes  are,  in-  like  manner, 
preserved, — as  was  evident  in  the  cities  of 
Pompeii  and  Herculaneum,  disentombed,  in 
our  own  time,  after  eighteen  centuries  of 
burial.  The  bones  found  there  were  not 
petrified,  I  believe.  Indeed,  the  cause  of 
death  must  in  many  cases  have  been  suffo- 
cation only,  as  the  remains  were  found  in 
cellars  or  dungeons  quite  free  from  the 
volcanic  ashes  which  overwhelmed  the  city, 
but  had  not  penetrated  these  apartments, 
though  completely  blocking  them  up. 

In  the  fossil  remains  of  rocks  there  is  great 
variety  in  the  aspect  and  position  of  the 
bones.  Sometimes  only  a  solitary  skeleton  is 
discovered,  crushed  and  broken,  as  if  it  had 
died  quietly  and  been  disturbed  by  the  weight 
of  accumulated  matter  gradually  pressing 
down  upon  it  from  above.  In  other  cases 
there  are  whole  beds  of  fossil  fishes,  or  quad- 
rupeds, in  every  variety  of  attitude  and  stage 
of  petrifaction,  as  if  they  had  been  suddenly 


FOSSILS.  299 

overwhelmed  by  some  convulsion  of  nature. 
Caves  forming  the  dens  of  wild  beasts  appear 
to  have  had  their  openings  closed  by  the  fall 
of  adjacent  rocks;  and  in  them  are  found  the 
bones  not  only  of  their  owners,  but  the 
gnawed  remains  of  their  prey.  At  Kirkdale, 
twenty-five  miles  from  York,  there  is  a  cave 
where  the  remains  of  three  hundred  hyenas 
were  found,  besides  many  others  of  the  ox, 
rhinoceros,  hippopotamus,  horse,  bear,  wolf, 
hare,  water-rat  and  several  birds.  Many  of 
these  latter  bones  appear  to  have  been  broken 
by  the  teeth  of  the  hyenas:  they  are  con- 
fusedly mixed  in  loam,  or  mud,  and  dispersed 
through  a  crust  of  stalagmite  which  now 
forms  the  floor  of  the  cave. 

The  hippopotamus,  rhinoceros  and  elephant 
are  not  English  animals;  nor  are  hyenas.  The 
presence  of  these  three  hundred  hyenas  and  their 
prey  is,  therefore,  a  curious  and  suggestive  fact 
revealed  by  geological  research.  It  can  only 
be  explained  by  supposing  that  the  climates  of 
the  earth  must  have  undergone  great  changes, 
and  that  the  temperature  of  England  must 
have  been  formerly  much  hotter  than  it  is 
now. 

Ofisiferous  breccias,  or  rocks  composed  of 


300  FOSSILS. 

fragments  of  bone,  cemented  by  some  stony 
matter,  occur  in  all  parts  of  the  globe.  Those 
lately  discovered  in  Australia  closely  resemble 
the  bony  breccia  of  the  Mediterranean,  in 
which  the  fragments  are  firmly  bound  to- 
gether by  a  red  ochrous  cement.  There  are 
likewise,  in  various  places,  beds  of  fossil  shells 
and  corals,  which  seem  to  have  been  left  by  the 
receding  sea  or  river  floods.  In  Suffolk  there 
are  two  distinct  narrow  beds  of  fossil  shells 
and  corals,  extending  for  many  miles, — one 
of  which  (called  the  coralline)  is  white,  and 
the  other  red  crag,  but  containing  not  less 
than  five  hundred  and  seventy-five  varieties 
of  testacea  alone;  about  one  hundred  and 
fifty  of  these  being  equally  common  in  both 
crags. 

In  the  red  crag,  the  whole  mass,  both  of 
shells,  sand  and  corals,  is  of  a  deep  yellow- 
ish-red colour,  from  iron,  or  ochre,  making 
part  of  its  composition.  The  greater  number 
of  these  fossils  differ  from  any  known  species 
now  existing.  Similar  fossils  are  found  near 
Antwerp,  and  in  Normandy. 

Near  the  submerged  forest  on  the  coast  of 
Norfolk,  in  England,  elephants'  grinders  are 
found  in  such  numbers  that  two  thousand 


FOSSILS.  301 

were  dredged  up  by  oyster-fishers  in  thirteen 
years.  They  call  it  the  elephant-bed. 

The  blue  marl  at  the  foot  of  the  Apennines 
is  very  aluminous  and  contains  many  fossils. 
Near  the  city  of  Parma,  for  the  thickness  of 
two  thousand  feet,  it  is  full  of  small  sea- 
shells,  which  are  soft  when  first  removed,  but 
become  hard  when  dry.  The  enamel  is  often 
well  preserved,  and  even  their  external  colour 
and  pearly  lustre,  as  well  as  the  ligament 
uniting  the  valves,  which  is  sometimes  per- 
fect. Occasionally,  however,  the  shells  are 
entirely  silicified,  or  turned  to  flint. 

The  seven  hills  on  which  Eome  stands  are 
composed  partly  of  marine  shells,  with  cover- 
ings of  volcanic  tufa,  and  usually  capped  by 
deposits  from  rivers  or  lakes.  But  it  is  im- 
possible to  describe  all  the  interesting  pheno- 
mena which  are  continually  being  discovered 
as  the  surface  of  our  earth  is  turned  up  for  the 
railroads,  canals  and  mines  of  its  restless  inha- 
bitants. In  passing  through  cuttings  by  rail 
or  road,  it  is  very  interesting  to  observe  the 
rocks  on  each  side  as  they  actually  stand. 

In  sandstone  there  is  often  the  ripple-mark 
existing,-  which  we  perceive  on  the  shore  of 
every  calm  sea  or  lake ;  and  in  the  green  slate 

26 


302  FOSSILS. 

of  Cape  Breton,  Nova  Scotia,  rain-drops  and 
worm-tracks  are  observed  on  successive  layers, 
the  upper  one  showing  exact  casts  of  the 
drops  below.  The  sides  of  these  are  raised  so 
as  to  indicate  from  which  point  of  the  com- 
pass the  wind  blew,  making  the  rain  to 
slant.  Professor  Hitchcock  made  clay  into 
paste,  and  sprinkled  water  upon  it,  which 
produced  exactly  similar  marks.  Footmarks 
of  the  chirotherium  have  been  observed  among 
these  ripple-marks. 

Mr.  Goodman  observed  the  great  interest 
of  his  young  auditors  in  the  objects  and 
facts  disclosed  by  the  discoveries  of  geology 
in  modern  times.  Thus  he  had  been  led  to 
extend  his  remarks  in  this  direction,  and 
had  turned  their  attention,  without  much  of 
scientific  order,  to  familiar  and  accessible  sub- 
jects,— his  view  being  rather  to  stimulate  than 
to  satisfy  curiosity,  and  so  to  lead  to  future 
inquiry  and  study. 

Having  gone  over  most  of  the  specimens 
collected  in  the  "  Friendship-Grotto,"  and 
various  engagements  being  about  to  disperse 
several  of  the  party  usually  gathered  there, 
he  congratulated  them  on  the  pleasant  hours 
they  had  passed  together,  adding  a  hope 


CONCLUSION.  303 

that,  if  it  were  God's  will,  there  might  be 
more  of  such  happy  meetings  in  the  same 
place. 

As  regarded  the  subjects  latterly  referred 
to,  Mr.  Goodman  said  that  the  discoveries 
made  in  the  structure  and  arrangement  of 
the  earth's  crust  all  tended  to  establish  the 
great  truth  that  every  thing  had  been  cre- 
ated, designed  and  arranged  by  the  omni- 
potent and  omniscient  God  for  purposes  of 
love  and  kindness  to  his  creatures,  and  espe- 
cially to  man.  All  that  is  opened  to  our 
view  delightfully  confirms  to  our  senses  how 
great,  how  perfect  and  how  good  our  God  is. 
In  the  words  of  the  prophet,  we  may  say, 
"  Hast  thou  not  known  ?  Hast  thou  not 
heard,  that  the  everlasting  God,  the  LORD, 
the  Creator  of  the  ends  of  the  earth,  fainteth 
not,  neither  is  weary?  There  is  no  searching 
of  his  understanding."  Isa.  xl.  28. 

But  it  is  not  in  the  earth's  crust  only  that 
we  are  to  note  the  wisdom  and  power  of  God. 
In  that  stone  book  we  read  of  mighty  revolu- 
tions in  matter,  and  in  the  book  of  history  the 
revolutions  of  mankind  are  related;  but  in 
the  book  of  God  we  read  of  the  revolutions  of 
the  human  soul, — that  it  was  created  upright, 


304  CONCLUSION. 

to  enjoy  sacred  and  holy  communion  with  its 
Creator;  how,  by  disobedience  to  God's  just 
commands,  man  lost  his  privileges,  and  be- 
came not  only  depraved  himself,  but  spread 
depravity  around :  yet  "  God  so  loved  the 
world"  that  he  gave  his  Son  to  be  a  sacri- 
fice, that  men  might  be  redeemed,  and,  by 
believing  in  Christ,  might  be  pardoned  and 
sanctified,  to  live  forever;  and  when,  at  the 
last  great  day,  these  heavens  shall  pass  away 
and  this  changing  earth  be  burned  up,  those, 
his  faithful  servants  and  children,  whose 
names  are  written  in  the  Lamb's  book  of  life, 
shall  be  raised  from  their  long  sleep  of  death 
and  be  presented  faultless  before  the  throne 
of  God. 

"  Oh  that,  with  yonder  sacred  throng, 

We  at  his  feet  may  fall, 
Join  in  the  everlasting  song, 
And  crown  him  Lord  of  all!" 


THE   END. 


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